strategic intelligence strategies for improving
TRANSCRIPT
Walden UniversityScholarWorks
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies Walden Dissertations and Doctoral StudiesCollection
2019
Strategic Intelligence Strategies for ImprovingPerformance in the Nonprofit SectorIglika KirilovWalden University
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations
Part of the Business Commons
This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies Collection at ScholarWorks. It has beenaccepted for inclusion in Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks. For more information, pleasecontact [email protected].
Walden University
College of Management and Technology
This is to certify that the doctoral study by
Iglika S. Kirilov
has been found to be complete and satisfactory in all respects,
and that any and all revisions required by
the review committee have been made.
Review Committee
Dr. Peter Anthony, Committee Chairperson, Doctor of Business Administration Faculty
Dr. Janice Garfield, Committee Member, Doctor of Business Administration Faculty
Dr. Denise Land, University Reviewer, Doctor of Business Administration Faculty
Chief Academic Officer
Eric Riedel, Ph.D.
Walden University
2019
Abstract
Strategic Intelligence Strategies for Improving Performance in the Nonprofit Sector
by
Iglika S. Kirilov
MS, University of Rennes 1, 2001
BS, University of Economics, Varna, 1997
Consulting Capstone Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Business Administration
Walden University
June 2019
Abstract
Nonprofit leaders face competition, rapid changes, increasing complexity in their operating
environments, and diminishing financial support, all of which threaten achievement of their
organizational missions. The purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies
nonprofit leaders used to develop plans for performance improvement based on strategic
intelligence. The research sample was composed of 3 leaders of a nonprofit organization
located in the midwestern region of the United States who implemented nonprofit strategic
initiatives to improve their organization’s performance. The conceptual framework used for
this study was Maccoby and Scudder’s strategic intelligence conceptual system for leading
change. Data were collected from semistructured interviews and a review of public and
internal documentation and performance outcomes. Data were manually coded and
thematically organized. The results of data analysis showed leadership and organizational
philosophy, foresight effectiveness, systems thinking and knowledge centricity, and smart
motivation as the key themes. Findings provide evidence that developing and implementing
strategic intelligence-based plans can assist nonprofit leaders in improving organizational
performance. The implications of this study for positive social change include providing
strategies to nonprofit leaders for how to guide their organizations through rapidly changing
environments, compete successfully, and sustain delivery of high-impact goods and services
to the public and communities that they serve.
Strategic Intelligence Strategies for Improving Performance in the Nonprofit Sector
by
Iglika S. Kirilov
MS, University of Rennes 1, 2001
BS, University of Economy, Varna, 1997
Consulting Capstone Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Business Administration
Walden University
June 2019
Dedication
To my husband, Galabin, for his relentless support, encouragement, and
understanding. To my wonderful children, Juliana and Simeon, who are my inspiration. To
my parents, for their unconditional love; help throughout the years; support to my choices;
and the values of hard work, learning, and continuous improvement they instilled in me. To
my grandparents, in memoriam, for the tender care and the firm belief they had in me. I am
so grateful to all of you; I love you all.
Acknowledgments
I owe this doctoral journey to many people, including my family, my superior, and
my friends, who provided help and encouragement, and believed in me, and I thank them all.
I am grateful for being selected for the Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA)
Consulting Capstone program, under the guidance of Dr. Robert Hockin as my chair. In
memoriam, thank you, Dr. Hockin, for your benevolence and willingness to share
knowledge and the consulting experience. Thank you, Dr. Peter Anthony, for having
accepted to serve as my chair and for offering continuous guidance, competence, appropriate
advice, encouragement, and a positive attitude. Thank you, Dr. Janice Garfield, for serving
as my second committee member. Thank you, also, for the valuable and stimulating input
you offered and for teaching us that “feedback is a gift, always.” Thank you, Dr. Denise
Land, for serving as my university research reviewer and for providing your knowledge and
guidance. I am grateful to all Walden University instructors I had during the program who
helped me learn and progress; thank you all.
During the time I worked with my client organization, I had the unique chance to
learn and feel inspired by their determination to achieve excellence and have a positive
impact and by their respect for people and open-mindedness. I am deeply thankful to my
client leader and to all of the participants who dedicated time and shared information and
experiences with me. I appreciated the opportunity to be matched with an exceptional
organization, and I thank all persons who made it possible.
To all of you, I say, Thank you!
i
Table of Contents
List of Tables ............................................................................................................... iv
List of Figures ................................................................................................................v
Section 1: Foundation of the Study ................................................................................1
Background of the Problem .....................................................................................1
Problem Statement ...................................................................................................2
Purpose Statement ....................................................................................................3
Nature of the Study ..................................................................................................3
Research Question ...................................................................................................5
Interview Questions .................................................................................................5
Conceptual Framework ............................................................................................5
Operational Definitions ............................................................................................6
Assumptions, Limitations, and Delimitations ..........................................................7
Assumptions .......................................................................................................7
Limitations .........................................................................................................8
Delimitations ......................................................................................................9
Significance of the Study .......................................................................................10
Contribution to Business Practice ....................................................................10
Implications for Social Change ........................................................................10
A Review of the Professional and Academic Literature ........................................11
Conceptual Framework: The Strategic Intelligence Conceptual System ........13
Supporting Theories .........................................................................................22
Contrasting Theories ........................................................................................25
Strategic Intelligence-Related Research ..........................................................30
ii
Improving Performance in the Nonprofit Sector .............................................39
Strategic Planning in the Nonprofit Sector ......................................................45
Transition ...............................................................................................................53
Section 2: The Project ..................................................................................................55
Purpose Statement ..................................................................................................55
Role of the Researcher ...........................................................................................55
Participants .............................................................................................................58
Research Method and Design ................................................................................59
Research Method .............................................................................................59
Research Design...............................................................................................60
Population and Sampling .......................................................................................63
Ethical Research.....................................................................................................64
Data Collection Instruments ..................................................................................66
Data Collection Technique ....................................................................................67
Data Organization Techniques ...............................................................................68
Data Analysis .........................................................................................................70
Reliability and Validity ..........................................................................................71
Reliability .........................................................................................................71
Validity ............................................................................................................72
Transition and Summary ........................................................................................73
Section 3: Organizational Profile .................................................................................75
Key Factors Worksheet ..........................................................................................75
Organizational Description ..............................................................................75
Organizational Situation ..................................................................................90
iii
Leadership Triad: Leadership, Strategy, and Customers .....................................102
Leadership ......................................................................................................102
Strategy ..........................................................................................................111
Customers ......................................................................................................118
Results Triad: Workforce, Operations, and Results.............................................122
Workforce ......................................................................................................122
Operations ......................................................................................................126
Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management .................................131
Collection, Analysis, and Preparation of Results.................................................137
Product and Process Results ..........................................................................137
Customer Results ...........................................................................................141
Workforce Results .........................................................................................142
Leadership and Governance Results ..............................................................142
Financial and Market Results .........................................................................144
Key Themes ...................................................................................................145
Project Summary ..................................................................................................148
Contributions and Recommendations ..................................................................150
References ..................................................................................................................153
Appendix: Interview Protocol ....................................................................................177
iv
List of Tables
Table 1. Workforce Profile as per the Minimum Requirement for Education ............80
Table 2. Key Customers and Stakeholders Requirements .......................................... 87
Table 3. Key Suppliers and Partners Requirements .................................................... 89
Table 4. Revenues and Expenses Highlights per Competitor ..................................... 93
Table 5. Organization BC's Key Strategic Challenges and Advantages ..................... 99
Table 6. Financial Results Versus Budget ................................................................. 144
Table 7. Comparison of Market Results for 2018..................................................... 145
v
List of Figures
Figure 1. Mission, vision, and values ..........................................................................79
Figure 2. Governance structure ....................................................................................85
Figure 3. Competitors’ revenue levels and growth ......................................................91
Figure 4. Evolution of accredited members ...............................................................137
Figure 5. Evolution of accredited programs ..............................................................138
Figure 6. Comparison of new educational members acquisition ...............................139
Figure 7. Comparison of returning schools................................................................139
1
Section 1: Foundation of the Study
Strategic planning is essential to achieve and improve performance in the
nonprofit sector (Rana, Rana, & Rana, 2017; Wolf & Floyd, 2017). Yet, according to
experts, strategic planning and management are underused practices among nonprofit
organizations (Concord Leadership Group, 2016; Meehan & Jonker, 2017). In this
study, I explored the strategies some nonprofit leaders use to develop plans based on
strategic intelligence for improving organizational performance. For my conceptual
framework, I used Maccoby and Scudder’s (2011) strategic intelligence conceptual
system for leading change. This system offers nonprofit leaders insight on how to
achieve a systems perspective in their strategic planning efforts, consider and interpret
context, and improve performance (Maccoby & Scudder, 2011). In Section 1, I
present the background of the problem, the problem and purpose statements, the
nature of the study, the research question, and the conceptual framework. I also
provide a review of the literature related to strategic intelligence, strategic planning,
and improving performance in the nonprofit sector.
Background of the Problem
Change, complexity, competitiveness, and pressure are some of the words
researchers have used to describe the actual operating environment for the nonprofit
sector (Bish & Becker, 2016; Maier, Meyer, & Steinbereithner, 2016; Petitgand,
2017). Flynn (2017) and Topaloglu, McDonald, and Hunt (2018) emphasized the
increasing number of nonprofit organizations, diminishing financial support from
governments, and the entry of business entities into fields where nonprofits
traditionally operated as the major reasons behind severe competition in the nonprofit
sector. Intense competition in the nonprofit sector has led to a global phenomenon of
2
transformations of nonprofit organizations, such as enhanced business orientations,
and provoked nonprofit leaders to increasingly use management tools to sustain their
organizations (King, 2017; Maier et al., 2016; Petitgand, 2017).
Strategic planning is one of the most long-established, acknowledged, and
prescribed management tools (Wolf & Floyd, 2017). As Rana et al. (2017) and Wolf
and Floyd (2017) noted, strategic planning is beneficial for formulating and
developing strategy, assessing alternatives, setting objectives, making strategic
choices, as well as for achieving organizational success in the nonprofit sector.
Among other advantages, the Maccoby and Scudder (2011) strategic intelligence
conceptual system of leadership for change is helpful to organizational leaders with
the provision of tools to achieve a systems perspective in their strategic planning
efforts. Results of surveys have shown that strategic planning and strategic
management are problematic in the nonprofit sector, which may result in deteriorated
organizational performance (see Concord Leadership Group, 2016; Meehan & Jonker,
2017). The focus of this study was on understanding the strategies some nonprofit
leaders used to develop plans based on strategic intelligence for improving
organizational performance. Supporting nonprofit leaders with strategic intelligence
approaches to improve performance might help sustain nonprofit organizations and
scale positive social impact (e.g., continued delivery of beneficial services to
individuals and communities).
Problem Statement
Pressured by competition for diminishing resources and motivated to ensure
their organizations’ survival and progress, nonprofit leaders are increasingly seeking
to achieve strategic leadership for improving organizational performance (Maier et al.,
3
2016; Petitgand, 2017). The results of a longitudinal study indicated that only 47% of
the leaders of nonprofit organizations in San Francisco Bay Area had strategic plans
with few of them including forward thinking; only 12% of nonprofit organizations
had leaders who conduct annual revisions of strategic plans (Horvath, Brandtner, &
Powell, 2018). The general business problem is that without strategies for developing
plans based on strategic intelligence, nonprofit leaders may fail to implement
organizational roadmaps, resulting in deteriorated organizational performance. The
specific business problem is that some nonprofit leaders lack strategies to develop
plans based on strategic intelligence for improving their organization’s performance.
Purpose Statement
The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore the strategies
some nonprofit leaders used to develop plans based on strategic intelligence for
improving their organization’s performance. The target population was four senior
leaders of a U.S. nonprofit organization located in the Midwestern region of the
United States who have developed effective plans for increasing organizational
performance based on strategic intelligence. The implications for positive social
change are that the findings of this study could enable nonprofit leaders to guide their
organizations through rapidly changing environments, compete successfully, and
sustain delivery of high-impact goods and services to the public and communities that
they serve.
Nature of the Study
Researchers can choose from qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods
approaches to conduct their studies. Yin (2018) recommended using qualitative
research if there is a need to understand a phenomenon and a context in detail, and if
4
the research question is exploratory. A qualitative method was suitable for this study
because I explored the strategies some nonprofit leaders used to develop a strategic
plan based on strategic intelligence. One of the primary advantages of using the
qualitative method in the field of strategic intelligence is the opportunity it affords for
gaining an in-depth understanding of changing environments (Walsh, 2017).
Researchers use the quantitative method to examine a theory’s relevance by testing
hypotheses about variables’ relationships or groups’ differences (Park & Park, 2016).
A quantitative method was not appropriate for this study as I did not engage in
examining theories’ relevance through testing hypotheses. Mixed methods was also
inappropriate as there was no quantitative component required to address my study’s
purpose.
For this study, I considered using such qualitative designs as phenomenology,
ethnography, and case study. Researchers can use a phenomenological design to
reveal the meanings of participants’ lived experiences or ethnographic one to
research groups’ shared cultures (Willgens et al., 2016). The case-study design is
appropriate for exploring a real-life phenomenon, gaining an in-depth understanding,
and considering the context (Gaus, 2017). The advantage of the single case study
design is that it enables a researcher to conduct a more in-depth investigation of the
organization’s documentation and interview participants about their experiences,
which can lead to a more detailed understanding of the phenomenon (Ridder, 2017).
An in-depth understanding of the strategic intelligence-based strategy development
within a nonprofit organization was the focus of my study. As such, the single case
study was an appropriate design.
5
Research Question
The overarching research question was, What strategies do nonprofit leaders
use to develop plans based on strategic intelligence for improving their organization’s
performance?
Interview Questions
The interview questions for this study were
1. How do you collect data for your strategic planning process?
2. How do you analyze data for your strategic planning process?
3. How do you determine if the data gathered and analyzed are relevant?
4. How do you address your strategic challenges and advantages in the data
collection and analysis process?
5. How do you address potential risk elements you detected into the data
gathering and analysis process such as changes in your regulatory and
business environment?
6. How do you ensure accuracy of your understanding of the competitive
environment and the strategic challenges your organization faces?
7. How do you assess and improve the effectiveness of your organization’s
strategic planning process?
8. What additional information can you provide about the strategies you use
to develop a strategic plan based on strategic intelligence?
Conceptual Framework
The conceptual framework that I used in this study was the Maccoby and
Scudder’s (2011) strategic intelligence conceptual system of leadership for change. In
2011, Maccoby and Scudder posited that the globalization of markets, the speed of
6
technology, the changing nature of organizations and customers, and increased
competitiveness require leaders of change to achieve particular competences. The
Maccoby and Scudder conceptual system provides a means to support leaders in
understanding the context in which they operate and includes (a) foresight, (b)
visioning with systems thinking, (c) partnering, and (d) motivating and empowering.
The strategic intelligence components are interrelated, and their achievement depends
on the leaders’ philosophy and personality (Maccoby & Scudder, 2011).
Nonprofit organizations’ leaders face complex changes in their operating
environments and increasing competitive pressures. To sustain their organizations and
ensure performance in challenging contexts, nonprofit leaders need to leverage
strategies for adopting strategic considerations designed to support leading change
(Maier et al., 2016; Petitgand, 2017; Pucciarelli & Kaplan, 2016). The strategic
intelligence conceptual system was an appropriate lens, I concluded, for
understanding nonprofit leaders’ strategies to develop a strategic plan based on
strategic intelligence.
Operational Definitions
Baldrige Excellence Framework: A systems-based organizational and
performance management tool that helps for-profit and nonprofit leaders from all
industries to reach their goals and continuously improve their performance through an
integrated alignment of leadership, strategy, customers, knowledge management,
workforce, and operations-related organizational areas (Baldrige Performance
Excellence Program, 2017).
Nonprofit organization: An organization existing to deliver benefits of interest
to public or community, without aiming to generate profit (USA.gov, 2017).
7
Nonprofit organizational performance: A holistic and flexible framework
comprising such core interdependent nonprofit performance dimensions as (a) input,
(b) organizational capacity, (c) output, (d) outcome as behavioral and environmental
changes, (e) outcome as client or customer satisfaction, (f) public value
accomplishment, and (g) network and institutional legitimacy (Lee & Nowell, 2015).
The framework shows scholars and practitioners how to choose appropriate
performance measurement indicators for a particular nonprofit organization
depending on the funding type, task programmability and observability, and
environmental turbulence (Lee & Nowell, 2015).
Strategic intelligence: A conceptual system that helps leaders to guide change
and involves qualities and tools for developing (a) foresight, (b) visioning with
systems-thinking, (c) partnering, and (d) motivating and empowering; alignment and
achievement of these components depend upon contextual challenges and
relationships, as well as the leaders’ personalities and philosophies (Maccoby, 2015;
Maccoby & Scudder, 2011).
Assumptions, Limitations, and Delimitations
Assumptions
Nkwake and Morrow (2016) defined assumptions as the researchers’
convictions, suppositions, and reflections, which are considered true without formal
proof and which underlie the researchers’ decision-making throughout the study. For
this study, I assumed that the qualitative method and the single case study would be
the best method and design to address the research question and purpose. Also, I
assumed that a sample of four senior leaders from a single nonprofit organization
would be appropriate. Another assumption was that the senior leaders would provide
8
truthful answers. I assumed that data gathering through interviews and internal and
external document reviews would be adequate. Finally, I assumed that the participants
in the study had developed effective plans which led to organizational improvement.
Limitations
Marshall and Rossman (2016) highlighted the importance of researchers
understanding the imperfections of their studies and discussing limitations. The two
primary sources of qualitative research limitations Marshall and Rossman emphasized
are the conceptual framework and the design of the study. The conceptual framework
of my study was the Maccoby and Scudder (2011) strategic intelligence system for
leading change, which I applied to analyze the findings. In using the case-study
design, I sought to achieve an in-depth understanding of the strategies nonprofit
leaders used to develop plans based on strategic intelligence for improving their
organization’s performance. An inherent limitation of the case study design is the lack
of transferability of the results (Marshall & Rossman, 2016).
Ellis and Levy (2009) explained that limitations are issues the researcher can
identify but cannot control, which may threaten the internal validity of the study.
Stating the study’s limitations is essential for the researcher to allow appropriate
understanding and interpretations of the findings (Ellis & Levy, 2009). A limitation
inherent to my study was the fact that participation was voluntary, and participants
could withdraw at any moment, even if they had previously provided their informed
consent. The participants have different backgrounds and experience, and their roles
in the strategic planning process of the organization vary and are limited in time.
Qualitative researchers have identified the following as limitations of case-
study designs: lack of transferability of the findings and nonapplicability to other
9
industries, possible incompleteness of the results, and limited sample sizes (Boddy,
2016; Dasgupta, 2015). In the present research study, the sample size was limited to
three senior leaders, as I reached data saturation with three interviews instead of four
as initially planned. Another limitation was the fact that a single nonprofit
organization operating within a particular higher education area was the focus of the
study. Additional factors also could have influenced the completeness of the results,
relating to the understanding, background, and experiences of both the participants
and the researcher.
Delimitations
Delimitations are conscious choices researchers make to frame the research
study, relating to the thematic focus, spatial, and temporal boundaries (Rule & John,
2015). Ellis and Levy (2009) referred to delimitations as what the researcher
voluntarily leaves outside of the study, given the research purpose. The focus of this
research study was on understanding the strategies some nonprofit leaders used to
develop strategic intelligence-based plans for improving organizational performance.
As an example of one delimitation, the interview questions I devised were designed to
gather information about the most critical components of the strategic planning
process because of the study focus. To gain a systems perspective and an in-depth
understanding of the research topic, I incorporated the Baldrige Excellence
Framework as part of my single case-study design. The spatial delimitations for this
study included the location of the nonprofit organization in the U.S. Midwest, as well
as the specifics of its substantial international operations in more than 60 countries
worldwide. Also, the information-gathering period covered approximately 1 year.
10
Significance of the Study
Leaders of successful nonprofits manage to achieve their organizations’ goals
and scale their organizations’ impact. Setting appropriate goals for moving an
organization towards the desired direction is part of strategic planning and strategy
development processes (Bryson, 2018; Maccoby, 2015). Approaches related to
developing strategic intelligence-based plans can help leaders achieve a systems
perspective and successfully anticipate, navigate, and drive changes, which could
result in enhanced competitive positions and improved organizational performance
(Maccoby, 2015).
Contribution to Business Practice
Nonprofit executives of leading organizations face the challenge of securing
leadership in a complex environment. These executives need techniques for
developing sound strategies and sustaining organizational performance. The findings
from this study could have significance to business practice because they could
support nonprofit executives in building successful organizational strategies through
strategic intelligence.
Implications for Social Change
The study’s implications for positive social change include the potential to
provide an approach to nonprofit leaders for guiding their organizations through
rapidly changing environments, competing successfully, and sustaining delivery of
high impact to the public and communities that they serve. Nonprofit organizations
serve various social needs and defend significant societal causes. Scaling the positive
impact and continually looking for excellence may further benefit society members.
11
A Review of the Professional and Academic Literature
The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore the strategies
some nonprofit leaders used to develop plans based on strategic intelligence for
improving their organization’s performance. In the knowledge era, the operating
environment of the nonprofit sector is characterized by increased competition and
decreased resources, requiring specific strategies for leading change (Maier et al.,
2016; Petitgand, 2017; Pucciarelli & Kaplan, 2016). Researchers have identified
strategic planning as a valuable management tool for assessing the operating
environment and detecting opportunities and threats, formulating strategies, and
implementing plans to address change and improve performance (Rana et al., 2017;
Wolf & Floyd, 2017). Maccoby and Scudder (2011) posited that in the knowledge era
leaders need new methods and competencies. Maccoby and Scudder developed a
multidimensional and interdisciplinary conceptual system of leadership for change
that is helpful in achieving a systems perspective, which they called strategic
intelligence. Among other merits, the strategic intelligence system is helpful for
guiding the strategic planning efforts of organizations (Maccoby & Scudder, 2011).
Nonprofit leaders may benefit from the use of strategic intelligence; some surveys
show that strategic planning and strategic management are problematic in the
nonprofit sector and may adversely affect organizational performance (Concord
Leadership Group, 2016; Meehan & Jonker, 2017).
I explored the strategies some nonprofit leaders used to develop plans based
on strategic intelligence for improving their organization’s performance. In the
following subsections, I provide a comprehensive summary of the academic and
professional literature related to the research topic. My objective was to achieve an
12
understanding of how strategic intelligence relates to strategic planning and how
leaders use strategic intelligence to achieve various organizational outcomes. I
structured the literature review around the following categories: (a) Maccoby and
Scudder’s (2011) strategic intelligence system and supporting and contrasting
theories, (b) recent research related to strategic intelligence, (c) performance
improvement among nonprofit organizations, and (d) strategic planning in the
nonprofit area. I did not find studies showing the application of the entire strategic
intelligence system as conceived by Maccoby and Scudder. Peer-reviewed articles
from the last 5 years show some partial investigation of strategic intelligence where
researchers explored some of the perspectives or components.
I used the research question to orient my literature search and organize the
literature review content. I searched scholarly articles using Google Scholar and the
following databases, which I accessed from Walden University’s online library:
ABN/INFORM Collection, Business Source Complete, Emerald Insight, SAGE
Journals, and Science Direct. Searching keywords included strategic intelligence,
nonprofit organizations, competitive intelligence, market intelligence, strategic
planning, and improving performance.
For the literature review, I consulted peer-reviewed articles, seminal books,
and government and professional organizations’ websites. An essential requirement
for the Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) program is that students
complete an exhaustive search of all references from peer-reviewed sources pertaining
to the focus and conceptual framework of the study. Ninety-two percent (92%) of the
113 references I used for the literature review are from peer-reviewed sources.
13
Another requirement for the DBA program regarding the literature review is
that scholarly sources should include current sources that were published within 5
years of the study’s completion date. To ensure currency, I prioritized searches in the
databases starting from 2015. Ninety-four percent of the literature review sources
have publication dates from 2015 to 2019.
Conceptual Framework: The Strategic Intelligence Conceptual System
The conceptual framework for this study was the Maccoby and Scudder
(2011) strategic intelligence conceptual system of leadership for change. Maccoby
(2001), a psychoanalyst and anthropologist, first introduced the strategic intelligence
system in 2001, in an article where he briefly reviewed why emotional intelligence
was not sufficient to explain successful leadership. Maccoby presented the strategic
intelligence concept as a group of five competencies operating interrelatedly: (a)
foresight, (b) systems thinking, (c) visioning, (d) motivating, and (e) partnering. Later,
Maccoby and Scudder (2011) delivered a more detailed and elaborate view of the
functioning of the strategic intelligence system, which showed the integration of the
visioning and systems thinking elements. Maccoby and Scudder explained the
significance of considering the contextual challenges, the culture, the personalities of
the followers, and the philosophies and personalities of the leaders to achieve
effective leadership. Maccoby accumulated knowledge from different areas and used
it to develop and articulate a system for effectively leading change (Maccoby, 2015).
Maccoby’s (2015) strategic intelligence idea arose from the need to amalgamate
various competencies about products, systems, processes, motivation, learning, and so
forth. The combination of different knowledge related to involving people with
14
different talents and ensuring collaboration and illustrated how to successfully lead
change (Maccoby, 2015).
Understanding how to address and lead change is a significant advantage for
modern leaders. Researchers have noted the high speed of change as one of the
dominant global challenges shaping the organizational environment (Bish & Becker,
2016; Calof, Richards, & Santilli, 2017; Maier et al., 2016; Petitgand, 2017). Scholars
from sociology, psychology, leadership and management, engineering management,
and industrial engineering who study change and leadership have dedicated their
efforts to exploring and identifying ways to realize change successfully (Al-Haddad &
Kotnour, 2015). After reviewing the academic literature related to change since the
beginning of organizational development theories, Al-Haddad and Kotnour (2015)
identified the need for an integrated approach. The Maccoby and Scudder (2011)
strategic intelligence system provides such an integrated perspective.
Maccoby integrated understanding and knowledge from systems, complexity,
management, and leadership theories, as well as engineering, industrial management,
and psychology, to compose the strategic intelligence framework (Maccoby, 2001,
2015). Among others, Maccoby referred to Ackoff’s systems thinking, Deming’s
problem-solving approach and concept of variation, and Fromm’s social character and
personalities (Maccoby, 2001, 2015; Maccoby & Scudder, 2011). In integrating
approaches from different disciplines, Maccoby addressed change simultaneously at
the levels of the drivers, methods, and outcomes.
The strategic intelligence framework (Maccoby, 2015; Maccoby & Scudder,
2011) provides a way for organizational leaders to navigate and lead changes, cope
with increasing uncertainty, and develop strategies to achieve competitive advantage.
15
Maccoby (2015) and Maccoby and Scudder (2011) placed the individual’s
perceptions and interactions with the environment at the heart of the idea of leading
change and organizational transformation. They expressed strategic intelligence as a
set of leadership qualities and interactions. In addition, they observed that the
globalization of markets, the speed of technology, the changing nature of
organizations and customers, and increased competitiveness require leaders of change
with particular competences. The needed abilities involve interrelatedness among (a)
foresight, (b) visioning with systems thinking, (c) partnering, and (d) motivating and
empowering, which are expressed through the leaders’ philosophy and personal
intelligence (Maccoby, 2015; Maccoby & Scudder, 2011). The context and the fit
between the leaders’ personalities and the context matter to success or failure
(Maccoby, 2015; Maccoby & Scudder, 2011). Maccoby and Maccoby and Scudder
described and compared several types of personalities and their typical behaviors and
discussed the importance of conflict management and motivating and empowering as
leaders’ abilities. In his vision of strategic intelligence for leading change, Maccoby
emphasized the significance of understanding and blending both intellectual and
emotional qualities.
Foresight. Maccoby (2001, 2015) determined foresight as the leader’s ability
to detect nonobvious coming changes and perceive the related opportunities and
threats. Different from predicting the future or forecasting, foresight stems from
combining core knowledge with monitoring the business environment and
interpreting global trends and patterns (Maccoby, 2015). In an article from 2001,
Maccoby synthesized the meaning of foresight in comparing the business opportunity
to an arriving wave which leaders can capture and ride. Maccoby (2001, 2015)
16
provided various examples from his consulting experience of companies’ leaders who
managed to grasp future trends and succeeded, as opposed to other leaders who
provoked a loss of momentum, competitive advantage, or opportunities because they
lacked foresight. To develop foresight, Maccoby (2015) suggested that leaders should
think and gather information about the market, political, economic, competitive,
consumer, technological, and other types of changes and how they might impact their
organizations. Environmental scanning, exchanging information with experts,
exploring cutting-edge organizations, and serving on other organizations’ boards are
some of the options Maccoby (2015) recommended to leaders as being helpful to
develop foresight.
Researchers have positively linked foresight to innovation, coping with
uncertainty, strategic planning processes, competitive advantage, and improved
strategic and tactical decision-making (Calof, Arcos, & Sewdass, 2017; Carayannis,
Meissner, & Edelkina, 2017; Rohrbeck, Battistella, & Huizingh, 2015). Studies on
foresight as part of strategic intelligence concept have shown a positive relationship
with organizational agility, an impact on entrepreneurial orientation, and foresight as
a way to support decision-making in complex situations (Abuzaid, 2017; Al-Zu’bi,
2016; Nieminen & Hyytinen, 2015). Scholars agree that foresight is a means to
respond to or anticipate change (see Abuzaid, 2017; Al-Zu’bi, 2016; Calof, Arcos, et
al., 2017; Carayannis, Meissner, et al., 2017; Nieminen & Hyytinen, 2015; Rohrbeck
et al., 2015).
Visioning with systems thinking. Maccoby (2015) described visioning as
conceiving the ideal organization. Leaders should build their future ideal
organizations by using Ackoff’s systems thinking, idealized design, and interactive
17
planning (Maccoby, 2015). Ackoff (1974) extended the shaping role of von
Bertalanffy’s systems as a scientific concept to organizations. Ackoff described
systems as structurally inseparable and posited that elements and subsystems or
subgroups of a system are interdependent, and the changes within an element impact
the functioning of the entire system. In Ackoff’s terms, systems thinking, as opposed
to analytical thinking, starts with understanding the whole first and then considering
the role of an element or subsystem within that whole. Maccoby (2015) found that
non-Asian managers lacked skills about systems thinking and suggested the use of
two models to support their learning. In the first model, Maccoby suggested
considering (a) strategy, (b) stakeholder values, (c) shared values, (d) systems, (e)
structure, (f) skills, and (g) style. Leaders can also use (a) purpose, (b) practical
values, (c) people, (d) products, and (e) processes model to achieve systems thinking
(Maccoby, 2015).
From the direct exchanges during common consulting experiences with
Ackoff, Maccoby (2015) derived that Ackoff’s view about designing an idealized
organization consisted of respecting technological and operational feasibility, as well
as building learning and adaptation capabilities. Leaders should design the vision and
communicate it understandably so that people can share it (Maccoby, 2015). The
vision should show the organization as a system, and leaders should bind its
achievement with time and concrete actions (Maccoby, 2015).
To implement the designed vision, leaders need planning (Maccoby, 2015).
Ackoff’s (1974) interactive planning involves the entire organization and requires
coordination, integration, and continuity. Maccoby (2015) recognized Ackoff’s
contributions to describe the learning and adapting organization. Maccoby thought
18
about adding processes as a necessary component to achieve learning. Maccoby
emphasized the role of processes to ensure continuous learning and improvement, as
well as to enhance the organizational purpose and practical values. Maccoby shared
that leaders can build a learning organization by applying what Deming saw as
continuous improvement and profound knowledge.
Some recent studies reflect the use of visioning by researchers and refer to
Maccoby’s strategic intelligence concept (see Abuzaid, 2017; Al-Zu’bi, 2016).
Abuzaid (2017) found that visioning and motivating have a higher positive impact on
entrepreneurial orientation. In contrast, Al-Zu’bi (2016) observed a moderate effect of
visioning, among other strategic intelligence components, on agility. Al-Zu’bi
interpreted agility as the organizational capacity for rapid responses to business
challenges arising from changes in the organizational environment. Al-Zu’bi
highlighted the significance of a systems approach in the concept of agility and the
maintenance of a high level of performance as the result of an agile organizational
response to changes. Last, Al-Zu’bi found that all strategic intelligence components
had positive statistically significant effects on agility.
Partnering. Maccoby (2015) explained that often strategic intelligence is
beyond the reach of an individual. Thus, leaders of change need to develop various
partnering relationships inside and outside of the organization and form a leadership
team with individuals whose combined abilities cover all aspects of strategic
intelligence (Maccoby, 2015). Maccoby highlighted the significance of understanding
the different personalities and their emotions in choosing the right partners and
maintaining meaningful partnerships over time (Maccoby, 2015).
19
Maccoby (1997, 2015) considered partnering with suppliers, customers,
related organizations, departments, and individuals. Maccoby developed and
presented a partnering scale based on two dimensions, value and trust, and composed
of five levels. The starting level is the commodity supplier competing on a price-
quality basis (Maccoby, 1997, 2015). Preferred suppliers rely on quality recognition
and a continuing, but traditional, type of contract (Maccoby, 1997, 2015). Next, the
relationship can evolve from the value-added supplier offering a particular
opportunity, through alliance where the focus is on a joint, time-bound project, to a
strategic partnership (Maccoby, 1997, 2015). Maccoby viewed strategic partnerships
as trust-based relationships in which the partners share information broadly and look
for common solutions.
Motivating. Maccoby (2015) pointed out the role of understanding personal
needs, drives, and values to engage, inspire, and persuade. Understanding and
knowing how to engage the intrinsic motivation is central for successful leaders
(Maccoby, 2015). Recognition and autonomy, in addition to appropriate economic
incentives, are central means to make employees’ work valued and connected to a
common cause (Maccoby, 2015).
Maccoby (2015) viewed various ways to motivate people and created the
notion of smart motivation as part of strategic intelligence. Smart motivation consists
of a combination of understanding personality types and building a motivating culture
while relying on various intrinsic and extrinsic elements (Maccoby & Scudder, 2011).
Smart motivation tools, which are personality intelligence, extrinsic and intrinsic
motivational drives, and organizational philosophy, help leaders magnify
collaboration for change (Maccoby & Scudder, 2011).
20
Maccoby and Scudder (2011) created the five Rs, the core of smart
motivation, which are (a) reason, (b) responsibilities, (c) recognition, (d) rewards, and
(e) relationships (see also Maccoby, 2015). As part of smart motivation, Maccoby and
Scudder (2011) suggested that leaders should consider the way to communicate a
meaningful organizational purpose so that they can leverage consistency between
organizational and personal values and support employees’ self-esteem. Leaders
should ensure they assign roles with a sufficient level of challenge and responsibility
to employees in connection with the employees’ skills and values (Maccoby &
Scudder, 2011). Leaders should craft an environment of fear eviction where people
can demonstrate transparent behavior and transform mistakes in learning occasions
(Maccoby & Scudder, 2011). Also, leaders should develop accurate reward systems
which enhance collaboration, offer a means to recognize employees’ contributions to
the organization, and provide ways to engage employees’ personal development and
strengthen relationship building (Maccoby & Scudder, 2011).
Researchers found evidence supporting Maccoby (2015) and Maccoby and
Scudder (2001) views about significant aspects of motivating. A study’s findings of
the positive effect of leaders’ motivating language on employees’ organizational
commitment, supported Maccoby’s view about the significance of good working
relationships (Sabir & Bhutta, 2018). In contrast, Erkutlu and Chafra (2017) revealed
that leaders narcissism involving hostility among other expressions leads to
employees’ organizational cynicism implying a negative attitude towards the
employing organization. Also, Carnevale, Huang, and Harms (2018) found that
leaders’ narcissism demotivates through affecting the employees’ organization-based
self-esteem, but that consultation tactics may attenuate the adverse effect. Carnevale
21
et al. viewed narcissistic leaders as self-centered, having excessive egos and demand
for admiration, and being insensitive to other persons’ needs, which negatively
impacts employees’ feeling of belongingness, and need for care and acceptance.
Carnevale et al. discussed that because narcissistic leaders may depend on their
employees’ cooperation, they tend to use social influence tactics temporarily, such as
consultation, expressed as decision-making involvement without the narcissist’s
tendency to insult or otherwise diminish employees’ personal and professional value.
Among other negative effects, Carnevale et al. revealed that leaders’ narcissism
results in the employees’ rejection to help others at work and to share views and ideas.
Leadership philosophy and profound knowledge. The essence of
Maccoby’s (2015) view about leadership philosophy resumes to the ability to instore
and communicate trustful organizational culture and guide decision-making in all
areas. Maccoby placed purpose, values, and aligned results measurement in the center
of the organizational philosophy and highlighted the direct connection with
innovation and cooperation. Profound knowledge implies systems thinking,
understanding of statistics and variation, motivation, and knowledge creation
(Maccoby, 2015).
Maccoby (2015) and Maccoby and Scudder (2011) linked the employment of
the strategic intelligence system to leading change to achieve competitive advantage
and improve performance. Maccoby and Scudder highlighted knowledge creation as a
primary axis that the leaders can use to achieve improvement. Maccoby and Scudder
explained that understanding knowledge creation is essential and various approaches
exist. Maccoby and Scudder emphasized the possibility to develop theories and test
them in using the plan-do-study-act (PDSA) approach, the interactive side of the
22
knowledge creation process, the impact of values and attitudes, and the significance of
fear of punishment in case of mistakes instead of improvement opportunities
consideration.
Supporting Theories
To develop the strategic intelligence system, Maccoby (2015) and Maccoby
and Scudder (2011) referred to concepts and theories from various fields. Another
distinctive feature of the strategic intelligence system compared to other leadership
and management theories is its coupling with Maccoby’s notion of context and its
interpretation. Combining many and diverse academic fields and linking them into a
coherent scheme for leading change effectively, is unusual, although in harmony with
the vision of Maccoby and Scudder (2018) about the imperatives of the knowledge
era. Because of the somehow revolutionary approach of Maccoby (2015) and
Maccoby and Scudder (2011), direct comparisons with other existing theories are
difficult. In the following subsections, I refer to some theories which highlight or
bring contrast to a single component or assumption of the system, but not to the
strategic intelligence system as a whole. Although Maccoby (2015) and Maccoby and
Scudder (2011) used some of the supporting theories, they also built upon their
limitations.
Total quality management. Total quality management (TQM) is a
managerial approach structured around the centrality of quality, cooperation, and
customer satisfaction (Tasie, 2016). Tasie (2016) stated that TQM is an essential part
of organizational performance. Some basic TQM premises include (a) customer-
satisfaction-led quality understanding, (b) continuous improvement, (c) active
collaboration, genuine involvement, and rewarding of quality, and (d) quality-oriented
23
training and education, and so forth (Tasie, 2016). Researchers acknowledged the role
of TQM-based practices for improving performance, especially in manufacturing
(Metcalf, Habermann, Fry, & Stoller, 2018; Tasie, 2016). Metcalf et al. (2018) also
reported some failures to achieve the desired outcomes. Possible reasons for the
absence of success results scholars identified are that the TQM approach does not
include sufficient organizational and leadership perspectives (Metcalf et al., 2018).
Maccoby and Scudder (2018) discussed the mismatch between the Deming’s
TQM and the context of the knowledge era. While acknowledging the unique
contribution of TQM and the learning acquired with Deming, Maccoby, and Scudder
pointed to the TQM’s requirement for a detailed specification, which becomes
incompatible with the problems the knowledge workers are facing presently.
Systems theory. Shukla (2018) noted that von Bertalanffy’s systems theory
further developed in such directions as (a) socio-technical systems theory, (b) living
systems theory, (c) soft systems methodology, (d) and social systems sciences.
Ackoff’s system thinking contributions belong to the social systems sciences (Shukla,
2018). Belinfanti and Stout (2018) viewed systems theory as a suitable tool to
evaluate design and performance, primarily used in the management sciences, but also
in various other fields. The tenets of systems theory hold that (a) systems consist of
separate elements, (b) the elements are adjusted and interconnected, and (c) the
elements purposefully operate as a whole (Belinfanti & Stout, 2018). Belinfanti and
Stout discussed a fourth possible tenet, which is the systems’ execution of function or
purpose over time. Belinfanti and Stout considered systems theory as helpful to
understanding organizations’ nature and purpose, as well as the best tool for
performance improvement and measurement.
24
For the concept of strategic intelligence and leading change, Maccoby (2015)
built upon Ackoff’s system theory view and tools. Maccoby noted a limitation of
Ackoff’s understanding of an idealized organization. The missing link Maccoby
identified is the process of organizational learning.
Fromm’s social character theory. Fromm and Maccoby (2014) posited that
people who belong to the same group within a society, exhibit similar character
structure. The common character structure is the result of the shared economic, social,
and cultural factors present within the society (Foster, 2017; Fromm & Maccoby,
2014). Fromm and Maccoby called the common character structure social character
and explained that its significance resides in the fact that the social character is the
foundation of group behavior. In Fromm and Maccoby’s view, the social character is
the way through which the individuals belonging to a specific social structure manage
to transform the psychic energy into a specific one serving the needs of social
functioning. People belonging to different social characters relate differently to
themselves, to peers, superiors, and subordinates (Fromm & Maccoby, 2014). Social
and individual characters interact and represent a system (Fromm & Maccoby, 2014).
Changing the character system is dependent upon the flexibility each of the elements
has and its regenerative power (Fromm & Maccoby, 2014).
Maccoby (2017) used Fromm’s methods and theories, enriched and upgraded,
and applied them to study leadership in advanced technology companies. Maccoby
(2002) explained that the concept of Fromm’s social character is not easy to grasp and
the specific reason behind the difficulty is its interdisciplinary nature combining
knowledge from such academic fields as psychology, sociology, anthropology, and
economics. Fromm’s significant contributions to the development of the social
25
character theory were the introduction of the marketing type of personality completing
Freud’s narcissistic, erotic, and obsessive types, and the concept of productiveness
(Maccoby, 2002, 2007). Productiveness in Fromm’s terms meant the power of reason-
driven activities, and its intensity is dependent upon the level of acquiring knowledge
about work, learning, and people (Fromm & Maccoby, 2014; Maccoby, 2002).
Productiveness may help to transform a character type (Maccoby, 2002). Maccoby
considered the concept of productiveness somehow idealistic. Fromm’s concepts of
socio-political relationships and social selection are helpful to understand the social
character idea and how a social character may change (Maccoby, 2002). Maccoby
(2002) considered that Fromm defined the social character, informed about the forces
forming a social character and its role in society, and proposed a method to study it.
Contrasting Theories
With strategic intelligence, Maccoby (2007) critically reformed and
revolutionized his previous knowledge, thinking, analysis, and use of leadership and
management theories. Maccoby observed that the researchers working with most of
the favored leadership theories focus on the strengths and the positive sides of
leaders’ personalities, claiming some qualities like empathy, and modesty as essential
to successful leaders. Maccoby took a realistic perspective to analyze his extensive
research practices and findings, as well as other researchers’ methods and conclusions
and noted that none of the studied empathetic or self-effacing leaders are successful in
highly innovative and competitive environments. Maccoby suggested that knowledge
about personality types and context is essential. The personality type Maccoby
considered suitable for leading disruptiveness and change in highly competitive
markets is the one with narcissistic dominance. In considering the entirety of a
26
personality type and the context a leader may need to fit, Maccoby questioned the (a)
situational leadership, (b) emotional intelligence, (c) Level-5 leadership theories, and
(d) Maslow and McGregor theories.
Situational leadership. Academics and practitioners use the theory of
situational leadership with the aim to understand and influence managerial
effectiveness, sometimes understood as the employee job satisfaction or follower
performance (Fernandez, 2017; Thompson & Glasø, 2015, 2018). The central tenet of
the situational leadership theory is that managers should adapt the levels of
directiveness or supportiveness they apply according to the followers’ seniority
development (Thompson & Glasø, 2015, 2018). Beginning employees need more
directiveness while to more senior followers, leaders should provide supportive
actions (Thompson & Glasø, 2015, 2018). Recent development of the situational
leadership theory is the integration of the partnering for performance perspective
(Thompson & Glasø, 2018).
Unlike Maccoby’s (2007) strategic intelligence, the situational leadership
theory helps to understand the relationship between leader and follower in a dyadic
pattern and mainly with the consideration of flexible behavior toward identified needs
(Thompson & Glasø, 2018). With the strategic intelligence approach, Maccoby
(2007) and Maccoby and Scudder (2011) suggested the integration of a more
profound personality type knowledge of leaders and followers, and a holistic
perspective regarding the role of the leader’s personality type about the purpose and
system of effective leadership in a particular business context.
Emotional intelligence. Upadhyaya (2017) traced back the evolution of the
emotional intelligence theory. The concept originates from Thorndike’s social
27
intelligence in the 1930s and during the years researchers brought developments of
emotional intelligence in three directions, (a) the ability model, (b) the mixed model,
and (c) the trait model (Upadhyaya, 2017). In 1995, Daniel Goleman popularized the
mixed model of emotional intelligence (Upadhyaya, 2017). The Goleman’s emotional
intelligence original concept includes five components, (a) self-awareness, (b) self-
regulation, (c) motivation, (d) empathy, and (e) social skill (Tyler, 2015). Tyler
(2015) reported that for Goleman emotional intelligence rather than technical skills
and intelligence quotient was central to leadership and a driving force to perform.
The collision between the strategic intelligence and emotional intelligence
views appears in how the researchers view performance and success, as well as
personality. Maccoby (2001, 2007) argued that a realistic approach to understanding
personality types, acknowledging both the person’s strengths and negative sides, is
more relevant. Without denying the necessity for leaders to meet some minimum
emotional intelligence standards, Maccoby (2007) reported findings from counseling
and research, showing that successful leaders of highly innovative and disruptive
companies are far from being good examples of emotional intelligence. Also,
Maccoby revealed examples where strong emotional intelligence may lead to failure
because of the inappropriateness of the personality type to a highly competitive and
changing business context. In Maccoby’s view, what makes the difference to success
in changing and competitive environments, is the level of mastering the strategic
intelligence set of skills.
Level-5 leadership theory. Castillo and Trinh (2018) resumed Collins Level-
5 leadership view for a successful leader to the combination of personal humility with
a powerful desire for achievement and a focus on the organizational cause and success
28
as opposed to personal success. Toscano, Price, and Scheepers (2018) also pointed at
the significance of humility within the Level-5 leadership approach, as a necessary
personal trait to successful leaders. Toscano et al. findings showed some
contradictions also with the Level-5 philosophy. Toscano et al. revealed that although
a humble CEO may foster collaboration within the top management team, the effect
of humility on cohesiveness and consensus is lower than under a neutral CEO.
Toscano et al. concluded that humble CEOs, although slightly preferable to arrogant
ones, are less effective than the neutral ones.
In his book Narcissistic Leaders: Who Succeeds and Who Fails, Maccoby
(2007) openly questioned several aspects of the Level-5 view. First, Maccoby pointed
to the narrow interpretation of the success of the Level-5 researchers, which included
a high shareholders’ cumulative return on stock for 15 years. Next, Maccoby
disagreed with the interpretation of the Level-5 researchers about personality types, as
well as about what constitutes a moral judgment of personal qualities and facts of
unethical behaviors. With strategic intelligence, Maccoby defended the non-
judgmental and realistic understanding, of a personality as a whole, as opposed to
idealized and optimistic versions, brought a more balanced view about various
additional elements to consider as organizational outcomes and success, and included
the knowledge about followers and business context as essential parts of leading
change.
Allio (2016) supported Maccoby’s view about the inappropriateness of
idealized leaders and the threat the leaders’ good character, emotional intelligence,
and humility may involve in situations requiring difficult choices. Allio also
questioned the relationship between the leaders’ good character and the ability to
29
envision an innovative breakthrough. Allio pointed to a societal moral paradox
regarding the praising of leaders’ good behavior and friendly attitude combined with
the pursuit of profits and huge bonuses.
Maslow hierarchy of needs and McGregor theory X and Y leadership.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs comprises five levels of motivational drivers, possibly
influencing behavior (Hale, Ricotta, Freed, Smith, & Huang, 2018). The levels are (a)
physiological needs, (b) safety, (c) love and belonging, (d) esteem, and (e) self-
actualization (Hale et al., 2018). Although one of the most popular and used theories
among scholars and practitioners, researchers criticized the hierarchy of needs theory
for ethical, anthropological, and other shortcomings (Acevedo, 2018).
McGregor viewed a dual way of people management in organizations and
categorized the negative premises under theory X and the more positive ones under
theory Y (Sudiardhita, Mukhtar, Hartono, Sariwulan, & Nikensari, 2018). Theory X
assumptions include the employees’ dislike of work, supervision, threat and
punishment, responsibility, and lack of safety (Sudiardhita et al., 2018). Theory Y’s
cooperation, self-direction and self-supervision, proneness to take responsibility, and
the capacity to innovate are positive assumptions about motivating and managing
employees (Sudiardhita et al., 2018).
Maccoby and Scudder (2018) noted the evolution and the dominance of
knowledge work, an essential part of the current context. Maccoby and Scudder
explained that in this context, managers need to lead through empowering workers, in
making them learn new skills and prepare them for more responsibility. Leading
through empowering is different from providing workers with a procedure to
accomplish a task, which potentially may lead to another needs’ level (Maccoby &
30
Scudder, 2018). What Maccoby and Scudder found as missing in the motivational
theories of Maslow and McGregor is the consideration of social character within the
changing context (Maccoby & Scudder, 2018).
Researchers used the term strategic intelligence to design various processes or
tools and associated the use of strategic intelligence to different outcomes. There is no
recent peer-reviewed article showing a study in which researchers explore or apply
the entire strategic intelligence system as conceived by Maccoby and Scudder (2011).
In the following subsection, I review the literature related to the researchers’
interpretations of some perspectives or components of the concept of strategic
intelligence.
Strategic Intelligence-Related Research
Leaders willing to help organizations grow and perform better in the current
highly competitive and knowledge-driven environment need new skills and
approaches (Amar & Hlupic, 2016). Knowledge in organizations’ success has an
increasing and predominant weight, leading to a shift of power towards the individual
workers (Amar & Hlupic, 2016). Improving the performance of professional services
organizations is also knowledge-dependent, and competencies become strategically
critical (Fanelli, Lanza, & Zangrandi, 2018). Although knowledge is essential in
organizations’ success, focusing only on competencies is insufficient to drive
performance (Fanelli et al., 2018; Maccoby & Scudder, 2018). Leaders in the global
and knowledge-driven era facing rapid changes need new types of intelligence
stemming from the capacity to draw competence, skills, and information from various
organizational and technical fields, as well as from and together with human beings,
and link these into a meaningful and purposeful whole (Maccoby & Scudder, 2018).
31
Maccoby and Scudder (2018) emphasized the leaders’ understanding of personality
and systems thinking as the most critical areas to lead change and drive performance
in the knowledge-led environment.
Maccoby and Scudder (2011) strategic intelligence system is interdisciplinary,
system-based, context, culture, and personality-type-sensitive, and allows for using
multiple tools and concepts. Interdisciplinarity, multiple methods, and the ability to
consider complex interactions among factors appear essential in the area of strategic
intelligence from other researchers’ perspectives also.
Walsh (2017) pointed at the interdisciplinary origin of strategic analysis and at
the need to better assess complex and emerging matters through strategic intelligence.
Landon-Murray (2017) emphasized the role of complexity and systems theories as
providing a focus on the interaction among different factors. Walsh argued qualitative
approaches are useful in providing a better understanding of the dynamic threats and
opportunities through a systematic approach complementing the analytical skills and
highlighted the possibility to gain a long-term perspective of the strategic drivers’
understanding. Ben-Haim (2018) also recognized the significance of integrating
human-related knowledge in strategic intelligence analysis.
The role of intelligence in strategic management. In the Maccoby and
Scudder (2011) system, strategy is part of the visioning component and requires
systems thinking and interactivity. Foresight is another component of the Maccoby
and Scudder’s (2011) strategic intelligence system which is necessary for perceiving a
strategic opportunity. In Maccoby’s view, leaders can develop foresight in combining
core knowledge with monitoring the business environment and interpreting global
trends and patterns (Maccoby, 2015). To develop foresight, Maccoby (2015)
32
suggested leaders should think and gather information about the market, political,
economic, competitive, consumer, technological, and other types of changes and how
they may impact their organizations. Maccoby’s (2015) primary recommendations
consist of environmental scanning, exchanging information with experts, exploring
cutting-edge organizations, and serving at other organizations’ boards. In the
following paragraphs, I discussed some recent studies about the relationship between
foresight and strategy.
Foresight methods and tools. Examples of practical approaches to applying
elements of strategic intelligence within the organizations involve the use of such
concepts and tools as the balanced scorecard, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,
and threats (SWOT) analysis, business intelligence, competitive intelligence, open
innovation, and so forth. Maritz and du Toit (2018) noted the lack of standard
definition of competitive intelligence and the multitude of terms used
interchangeably, such as market or marketing intelligence, competitive intelligence,
business intelligence, and so forth, to describe more or less identical concepts. Maritz
and du Toit positioned competitive intelligence within the strategy as practice field,
and listed such practices related to the strategy process as (a) environmental scanning,
(b) SWOT, (c) strategy formulation, (d) provisions and adjustments to strategy, (e)
strategy communication, (f) implementation, and (g) medium and long-term decision-
making support. Maritz and du Toit argued that competitive intelligence is supportive
of every stage of the strategy formulation and execution process. Alnoukari, Razouk,
and Hanano (2016) also combined intelligence and strategic management. Alnoukari
et al. defined as strategic intelligence the alignment between strategic management
and business intelligence and viewed business and competitive intelligence as both
33
necessary in providing information for SWOT, industry, and competitors analyses.
Competitive and business intelligence together help leaders to use the Balanced
Scorecard strategically and to formulate, implement, and evaluate mission, goals, and
strategy (Alnoukari & Hanano, 2017; Alnoukari et al., 2016).
Calitz, Bosire, and Cullen (2017) noted the significance of business
intelligence systems to higher education institutions’ strategic planning. Scholtz,
Calitz, and Haupt (2018) discussed that classic business intelligence tools do not help
satisfy strategic needs for sustainability management. Scholtz et al. promoted
information and communication technologies (ICT) and the stakeholder dialogue as
innovative business intelligence approaches. ICT and the stakeholder dialogue
facilitate the integration of environmental, social, and financial data, and
stakeholders’ reporting input and customization, which can improve strategic
considerations (Scholtz et al., 2018). Also, Edgeman and Wu (2016) viewed data
analytics for strategic intelligence as an essential driver of supply chain proficiency,
necessary to achieve sustainable enterprise excellence, resilience, and robustness.
Researchers observed a relationship between competitive intelligence and
competitive advantage. Seyyed-Amiri, Shirkavand, Chalak, and Rezaeei (2017) found
that competitive intelligence influences competitive advantage in the Iranian
insurance industry and recommended the use of competitive advantage as a
management tool. Shujahat et al. (2017) revealed that knowledge management and
competitive intelligence together lead to competitive advantage and have a central
role at every stage of the strategic management process, starting from the mission and
vision development, the SWOT analysis, long-term objectives definition, strategy
selection, implementation, and final evaluation. Also, Rakthin, Calantone, and Wang
34
(2016) linked market intelligence, competitive advantage, and performance, and
found that firm innovativeness mediates the relationship between market intelligence
and competitive advantage expressed as customer retention and acquisition.
An approach to practicing strategic intelligence is open innovation. Calof,
Richards, et al. (2017) discussed the open innovation concept and practices to source
new ideas for answering the current business needs and suggested moving the
competitive intelligence concept towards open intelligence. The substantial
internationalization of various business operations, the high-speed of occurring
changes, and the growing complexity as modern phenomena caused some deficiencies
in the traditional competitive intelligence practices (Calof, Richards, et al., 2017). The
Calof et al. idea of open intelligence involves planning, data collection, analysis, and
communication beyond the traditional and widespread in-house approach, with cross-
pollination, or even external and cocreation ecosystem’s components.
The concept of open intelligence as described by Calof, Richards, et al. (2017)
and as far as its practicing may provide for external participation, is an opportunity to
think about what types of information and when decision-makers would consider
disclosing. Bagnoli and Watts (2015) explored the strategic stimuli of companies
about organizing competitive intelligence activities in a way to acquire specific
information characteristics. Bagnoli and Watts suggested a model which involves the
consideration of a company’s private information useful to the firm and its
competitors to varying degrees. Bagnoli and Watts demonstrated mathematically that
there might exist information structures for which the companies’ decision-makers
may decide a disclosure policy and other information structures for which decision-
35
makers do not adopt disclosure policies. Bagnoli and Watts showed that the leaders
make a disclosure choice articulated around the relative usefulness of the information.
Regarding the European Union entrepreneurial policies, Carayannis, Meissner,
et al. (2017) also viewed sharing knowledge, ideas, and collaborating as challenging,
although essential components of the strategic planning process. Carayannis et al.
explained that the most significant components of the strategic planning process and
the smart specialization approach are open innovation and foresight networks.
Uncertainty, risk, breakthrough technologies, and market pressure trigger the
competitive advantage searches and are central to smart specialization, open
innovation, and foresight (Carayannis, Meissner, et al., 2017). Sautter (2016)
discussed that European industry could regain knowledge-based competitiveness
through effective strategic intelligence, strategic decision-making, and innovation.
Sautter listed such strategic intelligence activities as foresight, impact assessment, and
road mapping.
Carayannis, Meissner, et al. (2017) considered technology, competition, and
risk as the possible sources or drivers of intelligence. Garcia-Alsina, Cobarsí-Morales,
and Ortoll (2016) also detected that while external pressure and uncertainty increase,
the Spanish universities competitive intelligence teams increased intelligence work as
well. Alternatively, researchers considered the sources as both drivers and outcomes
or benefits of intelligence and strategic planning. When examining the companies
located within a Nigerian region, Ezenwa, Stella, and Agu (2018) found that (a)
strategic intelligence significantly impacts technological know-how, (b) innovation
impacts brand reputation, and (c) there is a significant relationship between human
intelligence networks and employee loyalty.
36
Despite the strategic intelligence benefits researchers claim, some small
organizations’ leaders reject the incorporation of intelligence into their activities.
Bisson and Dou (2017) observed that the French small and medium-sized enterprises’
(SMEs) leaders were reluctant to applying economic and strategic intelligence
techniques mainly because of psychological resistance and lousy reputation of
intelligence. To help French SMEs in decision-making and in facing the increasing
quantity of available data, Bisson and Dou suggested a strategic system for early
signals. The system comprises five stages, and some of them include tools like
Porter’s five forces, political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and
legal (PESTEL) and strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT)
analyses.
Foresight effectiveness. The way leaders conceive, organize, and apply
intelligence may condition the level of success of the strategic process. Quality and
completeness of information are some of the dimensions of the practice researchers
considered regarding intelligence effectiveness. Another significant dimension is the
way leaders organize the intelligence function within the organizational structure.
Quality of information and practice. Garcia-Alsina et al. (2016) provided an
example of inconsistent application of competitive intelligence. Garcia-Alsina et al.
reviewed the competitive intelligence practices of Spanish universities with a focus on
the academic offers design within the adaptation to the European Higher Education
Area (EHEA) requirements. Garcia-Alsina et al. analyzed the intelligence function
according to the (a) location, (b) responsibilities, (c) resources, (d) frequency, and (e)
orientation. Garcia-Alsina et al. found (a) different university units gathering and
managing the information, (b) rarely formalized procedures, and (c) not optimally
37
allocated resources. Garcia-Alsina et al. observed that the universities accomplish
intelligence-related activities on an irregular basis, reactively, and with a tactical
orientation.
To ensure effective strategic planning and solid decision-making leaders
should rely on accurate information and a variety of information perspectives. Yap
and Rashid (2011) highlighted that publicly accessible information and more
specifically, the one available from the Internet, may not be considered for strategic
decision-making. Drevon, Maurel, and Dufour (2018) explained that information,
experience, intuition, and social context are all useful in decision-making. Drevon et
al. suggested that strategic intelligence helps to maintain the process of decision-
making in (a) reducing uncertainty, (b) detecting weak signals, and (c) legitimizing
decisions, meaning that strategic intelligence may support decision-making before and
after the decision had place.
The type and use of information sources may depend on the organizations’
operating sector, mission, and legal environment. Within the higher education sector
in Spain, for instance, Garcia-Alsina et al. (2016) detected information sources which
include documents, commissions, internal working groups, meetings and digital
networks, stakeholders, and internal units. Garcia-Alsina et al. found that collective
analyses dominated, based on self-evaluation guidelines techniques, and
benchmarking and SWOT to lower levels. Intelligence production was collective
(Garcia-Alsina et al., 2016). Garcia-Alsina et al. noted some particularities of the
higher education sector, like the legislation about governing bodies and the social role
of universities, which may hinder or shape the intelligence practices.
38
The breadth and depth of intelligence activities are additional necessary
perspectives to understand and evaluate impacts. Oubrich, Hakmaoui, Bierwolf, and
Haddani (2018) identified two notable gaps in the competitive intelligence literature
which relate to (a) the lack of empirical research evaluating the companies’
competitive intelligence maturity and (b) the predominance of the developed markets
in the existing studies. Oubrich et al. revealed that the Moroccan companies operate
primarily at the early stage of competitive intelligence maturity where competition is
not intense, and the intelligence practice resumes mainly to environmental scanning.
Structuring the intelligence activities. Views vary about how managers should
organize strategic intelligence practices inside the organizations. Calof, Richards, et
al. (2017) indicated that intelligence activities predominantly locate in closed units
within the organizations. Yap and Rashid (2011) shared supporting findings and
reported that 62% of the companies in Malaysia have a formal competitive
intelligence unit, and 79% of the units are part of marketing or market research or
corporate planning department. In Morocco, over 50% of the companies also have
dedicated competitive intelligence structures (Oubrich et al., 2018). Søilen (2017)
identified seven competitive and market intelligence models, such as the (a) special
department model, (b) professional model, (c) top-down model, (d) integrated model,
(e) down-up model, (f) advisory model and (g) consulting model. Søilen argued that
competitive and market intelligence and the way leaders set their practicing, are
central to achieving competitive advantage. Søilen pointed at the possible problematic
attitude of top management towards competitive and market intelligence persons
because of the idea that efficient intelligence may reveal the real contributions of
managers.
39
Besides setting the intelligence activities within the organization under a
particular model, decision-makers may impact the effect of competitive intelligence
with their skills and knowledge. Grèzes (2015) detected that managers lack
knowledge about what information to request and proposed a model, helping to
identify competitive intelligence needs. Baei, Ahmadi, Malafeh, and Baee (2017)
found a positive relationship between knowledge and wisdom and practical
intelligence as strategic intelligence parameters and organizational development.
Also, the effectiveness of the process of strategic intelligence may depend on
the users’ practices and perceptions while using monitoring tools (Fourati-Jamoussi,
Niamba, & Duquennoy, 2018). Fourati-Jamoussi et al. (2018) used a competitive and
technological intelligence (CTI) tool among groups of students to understand the
choice of monitoring tools and the perceptions. Fourati-Jamoussi et al. concluded that
the introduction of CTI tools in companies might induce cultural and organizational
changes accompanied by resistance.
Leaders willing to achieve sustainable growth for their organizations need to
develop a long-term perspective of their knowledge about competitors and markets
(Stefanikova, Rypakova, & Moravcikova, 2015). Competitive intelligence practices
and the duration of maintaining them in the time impact market share and competitive
positions of companies (Stefanikova et al., 2015). Stefanikova et al. (2015) study of
Slovak firms indicates a relationship between competitive intelligence and sustainable
growth.
Improving Performance in the Nonprofit Sector
Scholars identified the need for nonprofit organizations’ leaders to adopt
performance measurement systems because of the increasing expectations about the
40
social role of the nonprofit sector and the current competitive pressures (Lee &
Nowell, 2015; Pirozzi & Ferulano, 2016). Nonprofit organizations suffer from a lack
of tangible metrics to evaluate performance (Houck, 2017). Houck (2017) discussed
that the consequence of missing metrics might result in a difficulty to show
accountability and emphasized how significant is for leaders to orient the strategy
towards performance. Lee and Nowell (2015) detected the increasing number of
scientific attempts to address the need for nonprofits’ performance measurement
framework, and the lack of a shared vision. Lee and Nowell suggested a flexible and
adaptive to the nonprofit organizations operating context approach and indicated that
leaders of nonprofit organizations following the commercial funding model, for
instance, should focus on acquiring the necessary financial and other resources, and
combine human and structural features to deliver the services and programs directly
linked to the accomplishment of the organizational mission. Also, depending on the
level of nonprofits’ tasks programmability and observability, leaders may need to
build performance focus on behavioral and environmental changes, customer
satisfaction, and network or institutional legitimacy (Lee & Nowell, 2015). The
variety of performance perspectives nonprofit leaders should incorporate involves a
vast array of organizational areas and dimensions which shows the centrality of
leadership.
Leadership. Organizations use leadership training programs to help develop
executive talent for reaching strategic goals, changing culture and performance.
Packard and Jones (2015) studied a leadership development program that involved
individual leader development aiming at changing the performance and cultures of the
participating organizations. Packard and Jones evaluated the leadership development
41
program of human service managers and found significant improvement in job
performance and self-efficacy perceptions and viewed leaders’ self-efficacy as a
significant variable associated with performance in organizations. Perceived self-
efficacy, receptivity to feedback, sensitivity to the external environment, and valuing
employee input shape the leaders’ capacity to use performance information (Johansen,
Kim, & Zhu, 2018). Johansen et al. (2018) explained that performance information is
helpful only when managers use it to improve their organizations. Johansen et al.
found that both sector and management style influence the purposeful use of
performance information and that managers need both incentives and capacity to use
performance information. The presence of market competition, for instance, is a
motivator for nonprofit managers to engage in performance management (Johansen et
al., 2018).
Knowledge and learning. Strategic management and marketing researchers
pointed to innovation, learning, market, and entrepreneurial orientations as sources to
adapt to changing business environments and improve performance (Baba, 2015).
Research in the nonprofit sector shows increasing attention and recognition to the role
of learning and knowledge-related concepts (Baba, 2015; Pirozzi & Ferulano, 2016;
Vakharia, Vecco, Srakar, & Janardhan, 2018). Baba (2015) tested the relationship
between learning orientation and nonprofit performance. Baba found that learning
orientation is the most significant strategic orientation for nonprofit organizations and
that learning orientation helps nonprofit managers achieve better financing results
through an improved noneconomic performance related to better addressing mission-
based tasks.
42
Pirozzi and Ferulano (2016) discussed the links between intellectual capital
and innovation, change, leadership, and performance, and promoted the integration of
a performance excellence framework with intellectual capital for knowledge-intensive
nonprofit organizations. Vakharia et al. (2018) found a strong positive association
between knowledge-centricity and the human dimension and resilience, which means
that managers may positively influence performance through developing these areas.
Also, Vakharia et al. found that the knowledge-centric practices related to (a)
collecting and managing data, (b) strategic use of data, (c) training and professional
development of staff, and (d) effectiveness in using technology systems are the most
strongly associated practices that affect financial and operational performance of
some nonprofit organizations. Carayannis, Grigoroudis, Del Giudice, Della Peruta,
and Sindakis (2017) suggested that organizational leaders may achieve sustainability
excellence in balancing knowledge exploration and exploitation. Knowledge
exploration is about effectively pursuing change and performance, while knowledge
exploitation is about consistent policies and structures (Carayannis, Grigoroudis, et
al., 2017).
Innovation. Kong (2015) discussed the significance of tacit knowledge for
strategic advantage, of knowledge acquisition for innovation, and innovation for the
sustainability of nonprofit organizations. Kong found that social intelligence is
essential to the nonprofits’ organization-specific knowledge and innovation. Social
intelligence is an initial stage for the nonprofits’ innovativeness and helps leaders
integrate external knowledge into internal learning processes (Kong, 2015). Social
intelligence is the leaders’ and members’ tacit knowledge and competencies to sense,
43
understand, and integrate the needs of external stakeholders to achieve organizational
benefits (Kong, 2015).
McDonald, Weerawardena, Madhavaram, and Sullivan Mort (2015) explained
that nonprofit leaders needed to engage in innovation to ensure sustainability. Leaders
of organizations with limited resources should pursue only incremental innovations
reactively (McDonald et al., 2015). Leaders of nonprofit organizations with
exemplary performance in both the financial and social areas can pursue innovation
proactively (McDonald et al., 2015).
Mission statement. Nonprofit organizations are mission-led, and researchers
claimed that mission statements are a strategic tool impacting the organizations’
performance (Macedo, Pinho, & Silva, 2016; Pandey, Kim, & Pandey, 2017). A
primary condition for the positive impact of mission statements is the clarity of the
expressed cause (Rana et al., 2017). Pandey et al. (2017) examined the relationship
between nonprofit mission statements’ semantic attributes and instrumental and
expressive financial and nonfinancial performance of nonprofits in the field of the
performing arts. Pandey et al. found that the mission statements’ semantic attribute
activity is positively associated with both instrumental and expressive aspects of
nonprofit performance. The Pandey et al. findings partially support strategic
management research indicating the central role of mission statements to
organizational strategy. The findings support the view that entrepreneurial orientation
adoption with an emphasis on the activities and programs is beneficial for nonprofit
organizations (Pandey et al., 2017). Macedo et al. (2016) also explored the
significance of mission statements for organizational performance. Macedo et al.
found an indirect effect of organizational commitment on the mission statement –
44
performance link indicating that meaningful mission statements are effective strategic
tools if employees align well with the values. Also, Macedo et al. found a direct
positive link between mission statement and performance, indicating that managers
who use mission statement development to inspire organizational members, promote
values, and show a common direction, may improve their organizations’ performance.
Financial sustainability. Financial and management factors matter for the
performance of nonprofit organizations as well (Qian & Kapucu, 2017). Improved
organizational performance and sustainability are central outcomes of effective
strategic planning processes in the nonprofit sector (Rana et al., 2017). A necessary
condition to improve the performance is the implementation of the strategic plans
(Qian & Kapucu, 2017).
Strategic planning. Rana et al. (2017) discussed that strategic planning is
essential for the nonprofits to gather volunteers and donations and emphasized the
role of nonprofit leaders in strategic planning. Qian and Kapucu (2017) examined the
effect of revenue diversification, board involvement, and strategic plan
implementation on performance. Qian and Kapucu found that strategic plan
implementation may help reduce the financial vulnerability of nonprofits. Qian and
Kapucu highlighted the significance of implementing the strategic plans and not only
developing them. Implementing strategic plans may help detect opportunities and
sustain or expand existing activities and contribute to the overall financial
performance of the organization (Qian & Kapucu, 2017).
Board of directors’ involvement. Views diverge about the effect of board
involvement on nonprofit organizations’ performance. Qian and Kapucu (2017) did
not find a statistically significant relationship between board involvement and
45
financial performance during times of crisis. On the contrary, Zhu, Wang, and Bart
(2016) found that active involvement of boards in strategy development helps
financial performance, industrial competitiveness, and innovation for both for-profit
and nonprofit organizations. Zhu et al. highlighted the significance of strategy-
dedicated board meetings in the nonprofit sector and their usefulness for the board’s
involvement in strategy.
Organizational culture. Researchers argued that culture impacts
organizational performance in the nonprofit sector (Stock & McFadden, 2017). Stock
and McFadden (2017) examined the relationship between patient safety culture and
hospital performance in nonprofit United States’ hospitals. Stock and McFadden
found that patient safety culture positively associates with patient safety, process
quality, and patient satisfaction. Langer and LeRoux (2017) contended that
developmental culture, involving innovation and risk-taking, may help nonprofit
organizations’ reactivity and efficiency. Langer and LeRoux revealed that nonprofit
leaders perceive a significant relationship between developmental culture and
effectiveness of activities like growth-seeking, resources acquisition, and reaching
external support. Recent research in the for-profit area indicates that organizational
culture is the most significant enabler of knowledge management, intellectual capital,
and organizational capabilities, and that the appropriate combination of the four
factors may lead to innovation for competitive advantage and long-term success
(Chatzoglou & Chatzoudes, 2018).
Strategic Planning in the Nonprofit Sector
Research in the area of nonprofits’ strategic planning indicated that the use of
performance measurement is essential and intertwined in the strategic planning
46
process (Chen, 2017; Sharpe, Mehta, Eisenberg, & Kruskal, 2015; Strang, 2018). The
integration of performance measurement in strategic planning helps to support the
nonprofits’ mission-achievement (Newcomer & Brass, 2016). Nonprofit
organizations’ leaders need to demonstrate the effectiveness of the programs to the
public and using performance measurement information indicates program
achievement capacity which leaders may adjust through strategic planning (Chen,
2017). Some of the tools researchers discussed and analyzed in the areas of strategic
planning and performance measurement overlap (Al-Hosaini & Sofian, 2015; Sharpe
et al., 2015; Soysa, Jayamaha, & Grigg, 2017).
Mission achievement and mission impact. Nonprofit organizations’ strategy
is mission-driven, and the nonprofit version of the Balanced Scorecard illustrates the
mission as the starting point for the organization’s functioning (Soysa et al., 2017).
Soysa et al. (2017) aimed at validating a nonprofit organizations’ performance
measurement model in the Australian healthcare industry. Soysa et al. tested a
combination of the nonprofit version of the Balanced Scorecard and a business
excellence model suitable to healthcare organizations. Soysa et al. found that the
mission is the initial source of impact for both the strategy and the financial health of
the organization, the strategy and the financial health influence people and
organizational infrastructure, and subsequently processes and stakeholders’
satisfaction. Given the importance of missions for driving the nonprofit organizations
functioning, leaders should consider articulating consistent, authentic, and engaging
mission statements, and avoid generic and vague versions (Sharpe et al., 2015).
Levine Daniel and Kim (2018) findings also supported the idea of the
centrality of missions for the nonprofit organizations’ revenue generation. Levine
47
Daniel and Kim found that nonprofits’ earned revenues’ embeddedness and
integration with the organization’s mission lead to better performance, while external
to the mission revenues lead to poor performance. Levine Daniel and Kim used a
framework allowing to compare the integration of the earned revenue activity into the
mission through organizational technology and target market. Levine Daniel and Kim
explained that organizational technology involves financial, human, and technology
resources as the primary components of organizations’ activities.
To execute the mission over time, the nonprofit leaders need to ensure the
continuity of funding from grants, donations, or services, and demonstrating
accountability and performance becomes imminent. Knox and Wang (2016) noted the
agreement of researchers that performance measurement is helpful for nonprofits
accountability and performance improvement. The leaders of small and midsized
nonprofit organizations may face difficulties to implement a performance
measurement system because of insufficient or lacking capacity (Knox & Wang,
2016). Knox and Wang advocated the adoption of a capacity-building approach. Knox
and Wang found that (a) leadership and stakeholder support, (b) technical competency
and staff expertise, and (c) change institutionalization are essential factors for the
successful implementation of the performance measurement system in small and
midsized nonprofits.
Strategic planning tools. Nonprofit leaders may need to engage their
organizations in strategic planning for a variety of reasons and in expecting a
multitude of benefits within a pertinent process (Bryson, 2018). A possible benefit of
strategic planning is improved decision-making about the organization’s current and
future actions and the related consequences (Bryson, 2018). Therefore, developing a
48
capacity to sense the future may prove helpful in strategic planning. Kim and Lee
(2017) discussed the significance of detecting weak signals during the current
business uncertainty and shortened technological lifecycles. Kim and Lee aimed at
focusing on technology-centered signs that can constitute technology foresight. Kim
and Lee referred to the environmental scanning and Ansoff’s surveillance, mentality,
and power filters as the traditional method for weak signals detection. Kim and Lee
suggested a framework for identifying weak signals through novel information and
novelty detection technique, the local outlier factor technique, from futuristic data.
Kim and Lee suggested four stages process, starting with collecting patent and
futuristic data. The following stages are (a) building keyword document matrix, (b)
assessing rarity and transformation power, and (c) developing signal portfolio map.
Kim and Lee concluded that the framework is helpful in enlarging the sources and
improving the sensitivity to weak signal identification. Kim and Lee considered such
futuristic data as predictions, facts, trends, and stimuli that are different from and
complementary to patent data and included information from both experts and the
public, which was helpful in finding weak signals.
Researchers referred to the balanced scorecard and SWOT analysis in
nonprofit strategic planning and performance measurement articles as some of the
primary tools. Al-Hosaini and Sofian (2015) aimed at justifying the use of the
balanced scorecard in higher education institutions to drive organizational change
following necessary innovation and competitiveness initiatives. Al-Hosaini and
Sofian highlighted the significance of the financial perspective for universities as
nonprofit organizations and advised the use of a SWOT for defining the mission and
vision, as well as the balanced scorecard with the strategy map tool to relate the
49
mission to a comprehensive strategic plan and management system. Al-Hosaini and
Sofian suggested that apart from the four main dimensions of the balanced scorecard,
the universities’ leaders should consider (a) community participation, (b) strategic
partnership, and (c) scientific research excellence, to help graduates acquire
competences relevant to the market needs.
The nonprofit operating field and the stage of strategic planning are some
factors to consider while choosing a suitable tool. Sharpe et al. (2015) discussed the
challenge radiology groups are facing with the new healthcare reform in the United
States. Sharpe et al. discussed that the new aim is to provide high quality care through
customer value. Sharpe et al. advised radiology leaders should follow a 4-step
approach, (a) clarifying and articulating purpose, (b) identifying strategic goals, (c)
prioritizing strategic enablers, and (d) tracking progress and adapting. Sharpe et al.
provided guidance about what relevant mission and vision statements are, highlighted
the need to avoid generic or vague mission statements, and suggested the five whys
approach. Sharpe et al. proposed SWOT analysis as the primary strategic planning
tool to use during the second stage. To prioritize strategic enablers, Sharpe et al.
suggested using the possible-implement-challenge-kill idea approach (PICK). For the
final stage, Sharpe et al. suggested using the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) approach and
the balanced scorecard.
Soysa et al. (2017) listed the balanced scorecard as an existing performance
measurement model that nonprofit healthcare leaders in Australia may use. The initial
balanced scorecard version contained four dimensions, (a) innovation and learning,
(b) internal business processes, (c) customers, and (d) financial (Soysa et al., 2017). In
the later versions, the four initial dimensions remained intact, but with the concept of
50
strategy map the balanced scorecard authors brought additional clarifications about
measurement selection and suggested a version suitable to nonprofit organizations
(Soysa et al., 2017). In the nonprofit version, strategy is mission-driven and the
financial perspective is the antecedent of the internal processes’ perspective and
equally important as the learning and growth dimension (Soysa et al., 2017). Soysa et
al. identified a missing component of all versions of the balanced scorecard, which is
people satisfaction. Also, Soysa et al. compared the balanced scorecard to business
excellence frameworks like the Baldrige and European excellence model and used a
specific to the healthcare organizations excellence framework. Soysa et al. noted the
similarity between business excellence and nonprofit balanced scorecard frameworks
which consists of the systems approach and outlined the distinctive difference which
is the strategy driver, organizational leadership for the business excellence models,
but mission for the nonprofit balanced scorecard.
Strategic planning effectiveness. Strategic planning is not relevant in crisis
situations, or when leaders’ commitment, skills, and resources are absent (Bryson,
2018). While nonprofit leaders can achieve various organizational benefits through
engaging in the strategic planning process, success may depend upon the willingness
of participants and how well leaders adapt the process to the organizational situation
and context (Bryson, 2018). Also, the type of participants in the strategic planning
process, and the presence of organizational politics may condition the level of use of
performance measurement information and process’ effectiveness (Chen, 2017;
Elbanna, 2016).
Newcomer and Brass (2016) suggested that nonprofit leaders should design a
more substantial, strategically oriented, evaluation function within the organizations
51
to better support mission execution, grouping performance measurement, ad-hoc
impact studies, and other applications of program assessment skills. Chen (2017)
discussed the role of performance measurement in the public sector and highlighted
the need of evidence about the effectiveness of programs. Chen noted that
performance measurement helps to translate organizational goals into objectives and
actions and indicates implementation capacity of departments, information which
leaders could link to strategic planning and adjust as necessary. Chen found that
diversity of stakeholders’ participation increases the chance of using performance
information in strategic planning. Chen revealed that the participation of the internal
stakeholders positively and significantly influences the application of performance
information to strategic planning. Chen concluded that because of technical
rationality, managerial effectiveness, and political accountability, internal
stakeholders are able to generate a stronger effect on the use of performance
information than external stakeholders.
Governance and management style are also factors impacting the strategic
planning outcomes. When exploring the touristic industry, Elbanna (2016)
hypothesized the impact of managerial autonomy and strategic control on
organizational politics, as well as the influence of organizational politics on the
effectiveness of strategic planning. Elbanna found that high levels of managerial
autonomy combined with low levels of control negatively impact the effectiveness of
strategic planning by increasing organizational tensions. In some highly specialized
and high performing nonprofit organizations, such as science and technology
laboratories, governance type may alter strategic planning outcomes (Mirabeau,
Kinder, & Malherbe, 2015). Mirabeau et al. (2015) revealed that the relationships
52
between governance strategic planning processes, funding, and performance
evaluation vary as per the laboratories’ governance archetypes.
Bryson (2018) considered that leaders might have different priorities in crisis,
and executing the strategic planning may not correspond to an adequate reaction of an
emergency. Other researchers argued that during times of economic crises, strategic
planning is essential for nonprofit leaders willing to achieve an effective strategic
response (Raffo, Clark, & Arik, 2016). Raffo et al. (2016) noted the augmented need
of nonprofits’ strategic responses and strategic planning during the 2008 economic
crisis. Raffo et al. mentioned human resources and financial related response
strategies including staff reductions, salary freezes, reassignments, use of more
volunteers, boards relationships and fundraising efforts, and new programs for
revenue streams. Raffo et al. aimed at determining how the nonprofits responded
strategically to the crisis, which factors determined stronger strategic responses, and
which responses led to financial growth. Raffo et al. found that (a) fewer funding
sources associated to lower level of strategic response, (b) a website presence and
visibility of a board of directors related to stagnant or increasing resources reporting,
and (c) experience in the market and firm size were not significant to predict strategic
response levels. Raffo et al. suggested nonprofit leaders should ensure strong
visibility and human resource capacity, as well as increase strategic response level
during crises.
Leaders’ ability to assess the capacity to implement a strategy at the strategy
formulation phase is another effectiveness-related factor (Bryson, 2018). After
exploring the strategy statements of 203 AACSB accredited universities worldwide
and their rankings, Rustambekov and Unni (2017) found that the higher ranked
53
universities promote faculty emphasis in the strategy statements and have longer well
laid-down strategy statements, while the lower ranked promoted students focus.
Rustambekov and Unni revealed that successful university leaders managed their
activities in compliance with the strategy statement which helped them achieve higher
performance.
Finally, strategic planning is a critical success factor for nonprofit
organizations (Bryson, 2018; Strang, 2018). For nonprofit leaders, the mission is the
most significant strategy driver (Soysa et al., 2017). Sharpe et al. (2015) advised that
nonprofit leaders should consider SWOT analysis in their strategic planning efforts to
identify strategic goals. Leaders’ style, assessment skills, as well as organizational
relationships, governance, and stakeholders’ participation impact the strategic
planning effectiveness (Bryson, 2018; Chen, 2017; Elbanna, 2016; Mirabeau et al.,
2015; Newcomer & Brass, 2016). Strang (2018) found that strategic planning and
innovation are some of the nonprofit critical success factors identified from the
literature review and validated by a group of practitioners. The practitioners’
principles elicited from a SWOT-TOWS analysis, are (a) leadership and resource
structure, (b) strategic planning and innovation, (c) document procedures and training,
(d) human and technology resource management, (e) financial management, (f)
accountability practices, (g) ethics and communications policies, (h) collaborative
fundraising and marketing initiatives, and (i) performance success evaluation.
Transition
In Section 1, I presented the foundation of this study, the conceptual
framework, and a review of the professional and academic literature. The purpose of
the literature review was to explore how strategic intelligence relates to strategic
54
planning and how leaders can use strategic intelligence to improve performance.
Some key points are the significance of knowledge and learning, leadership, and
organizational culture to achieve innovation, entrepreneurial orientation, and
competitive advantage in an era of increased competition and constant change.
Researchers pointed to the need for leaders to adopt a long-term perspective for
sustaining growth, ensure input from a broad base of stakeholders and use of
performance measurement data in the strategic planning process, keep missions
purposeful and consistent, and ensure mission-driven activities, revenues,
organizational values, and employees’ and volunteers’ commitment. Researchers
advised using such strategic tools as SWOT analyses, the balanced scorecard, and
excellence models.
Section 2 contains information about the organization and execution of the
study. I discussed the research purpose, the methodology, and design, my role as the
researcher, the participants, the data collection instruments, and techniques. I provided
information about the methods I used to ensure the ethical execution and the
reliability and validity of the study.
In Section 3, I presented the analysis of my client organization structured as
per the Baldrige Performance Excellence Framework (2017). The Baldrige framework
is a systems-perspective tool facilitating the integrated thinking. The critical success
areas of analysis are as follows: leadership, strategy, customers, measurement,
analysis, and knowledge, workforce, operations, and results.
55
Section 2: The Project
In Section 2, I present the study purpose and discuss the research method and
design, the role of the researcher, and the data collection methods and techniques. The
primary method of data collection consisted of semistructured telephone interviews
with three senior leaders who have experience in strategic planning and contributions
to organizational performance. Additional data collection methods included reviews
of organizational documents and publicly accessible data.
Purpose Statement
The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore the strategies
some nonprofit leaders used to develop plans based on strategic intelligence for
improving their organization’s performance. The target population was four senior
leaders of a U.S. nonprofit organization located in the Midwest who have developed
effective plans for increasing organizational performance based on strategic
intelligence. However, I achieved data saturation with three interviews. The
implications for positive social change are that the findings of this study could enable
nonprofit leaders to guide their organizations through rapidly changing environments,
compete successfully, and sustain delivery of high impact goods and services to the
public and communities that they serve.
Role of the Researcher
The researcher’s most significant role in qualitative research consists of being
the instrument for data collection, interpreting the analyzed data, and ensuring various
aspects of validity and reliability (Gaus, 2017). In the data collection process, the
responsibilities of the researcher include objective and ethical data gathering,
clarifying his or her interpretation of data, and establishing a process of analysis and
56
collaboration with the participants (Fletcher, De Massis, & Nordqvist, 2016). In
conducting this qualitative single case study, I served as the primary instrument for
gathering, analyzing, and interpreting the data.
Researchers can use various strategies to ensure the trustworthiness of
qualitative research (Hays, Wood, Dahl, & Kirk‐Jenkins, 2016). Some of the
strategies researchers use relate to reflexivity, triangulation, and member checking
(Hays et al., 2016). I had no previous experience working in the nonprofit sector, with
the participants of the study, or as a consultant. Furthermore, I did not work or was
otherwise involved in the field of accreditation. In some of my professional roles, I
served as a strategic planning expert and business planning leader, which may have
given me some familiarity with certain points or aspects participants might have
shared during the interviews. In acknowledging the potential for this bias, I used
techniques to monitor for bias concerns during the research process and applied
appropriate methods to limit the possible impact.
Yin (2018) highlighted the significance for case study researchers of pursuing
the highest ethical standards and values. The requirements for ethical research
involving human subjects of the Belmont Report (National Commission for the
Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research, 1979), include
such guiding principles as (a) respect for participants, (b) beneficence, and (c) justice.
Researchers need to ensure individuals’ understanding of the nature of the study,
voluntary participation, confidentialityIand privacy (Yin, 2018). In engaging in ethical
behavior, the researcher should prevent harmful actions and effects of all types (Yin,
2018). A prerequisite of conducting a study at Walden University is obtaining
Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval (Walden University, 2018). The scope of
57
IRB oversight includes approval of data sources and provision of informed consent to
the participants. Walden researchers have the responsibility to comply with the
directions set forth in their IRB approval (Walden University, 2018). I adhered to the
requirements stipulated by the IRB in carrying out this study.
Ensuring trustworthiness in qualitative research is a primary requirement for
quality, and researchers can address the required rigor by using various strategies
(Hays et al., 2016). One responsibility of the case study researcher and an aspect of
ethical research is detachment from predetermined positions (Yin, 2018). Fusch and
Ness (2015) explained the significance of understanding and providing the
participants’ perspective and emphasized the difficulty of the task. Fusch and Ness
recommended acknowledging and maintaining awareness of one’s personal lens as
ways to limit the researcher’s bias. I heeded this recommendation by acknowledging
my previous experience in strategic and business planning and remaining attentive to
limit the possible impact of my experience on the conduct of my study. Additionally, I
used an interview protocol and relied on triangulation and member checking to
achieve neutrality and thick description.
The use of an interview protocol is essential for improving research quality
and mitigating the researcher’s bias (Castillo-Montoya, 2016; Fusch, Fusch, & Ness,
2018). I used an interview protocol (see Appendix) to ensure consistency of execution
of all interviews, remain open-minded, and provide flexibility to introduce changes
based on participants’ wishes. Use of the interview protocol helped me prepare and
organize an essential part of the data collection process, as well as achieve data
saturation and mitigate bias.
58
Participants
Leaders of the DBA Consulting Capstone program of Walden University
assigned a nonprofit organization to me. The study participants were among the
assigned nonprofit organization’s senior leaders. The purpose of this qualitative single
case study was to explore the strategies some nonprofit leaders used to develop plans
based on strategic intelligence for improving their organization’s performance. The
target population was four senior leaders of a U.S. nonprofit organization located in
the Midwest who have developed effective plans for increasing organizational
performance based on strategic intelligence. I reached data saturation with three
interviews. Researchers can select participants based on the information they can
provide pertinent to the research question (Fusch & Ness, 2015; Singh, 2014). The
selection criteria for participation in this study aligned with the overarching research
question. The eligible participants demonstrated characteristics showing engagement
in the organization’s strategic planning processes and a resulting achievement of
performance.
The working relationship of the scholar-consultants who are part of the DBA
consulting capstone with the assigned organizations and senior leaders rests on the
requirements of the capstone program, the IRB approval and informed consent
process, and the use of the Baldrige Excellence Framework. Walden University
consulting capstone leaders provided me with access to the organization’s senior
leaders at the start of my assignment. I interacted with the senior leaders upon
obtaining the IRB approval. As a consulting capstone student, I followed the 2017-
2018 Baldrige Excellence Framework to structure the data gathering and achieve an
integrated perspective of the organization’s performance.
59
The IRB approval requirements for the DBA Consulting Capstone allow for
the use of public data, internal documents, peer-reviewed and other professional
literature, and interviews with the participants. Because of the geographical distance
between my residence and the organization’s location, I communicated with the
organization’s senior leaders through digital means and telephone. The first contact
with the study participants happened through e-mail with the aim to clarify the
purpose of the study and my involvement with the organization. In her interview
protocol refinement framework, Castillo-Montoya (2016) highlighted the importance
of achieving a natural discussion during the interview. After the initial e-mail, I
requested a brief call with each potential participant, and if accepted, I attempted to
establish more personal contact with the aim to prepare for a natural conversation
style during the interview. In a second e-mail, I addressed the informed consent
process and the need for written acceptance to persons who showed interest in
participating.
Research Method and Design
Research Method
Researchers can choose from qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods
approach to conduct their studies. Birkinshaw, Brannen, and Tung (2011)
recommended using qualitative research if there is a need to explore a phenomenon
and understand a context in detail. In this study, I used a qualitative method as I
explored the strategies some nonprofit leaders use to develop a strategic plan based on
strategic intelligence. One of the primary advantages of using the qualitative method
in the field of strategic intelligence is the opportunity for gaining an in-depth
understanding of changing environments (Walsh, 2017). In using qualitative methods,
60
the researchers can gather information about the behavior of participants in real
conditions (Kross & Giust, 2019). In this study, I combined observations from
documents and literature reviews with the participant’s descriptions of the strategic
intelligence-based strategies they used for organization improvement, and how the
participants accomplished various parts of the planning process. The qualitative
method allowed for an in-depth understanding and a rich description of the
organizational process of strategic planning and the integration of strategic
intelligence components for organizational improvement.
In contrast, researchers use the quantitative method to examine a theory’s
relevance through testing hypotheses about variables’ relationships or groups’
differences (Park & Park, 2016). A quantitative method was not appropriate for this
study as I did not engage in a justification context to examine theories’ relevance
through testing hypotheses. Venkatesh, Brown, and Bala (2013) explained that the
mixed methods research methodology is a combination of qualitative and quantitative
approaches and techniques. Palinkas et al. (2015) recommended employing the mixed
methods research methodology in cases where a qualitative or quantitative method
alone is insufficient and incomplete for a study. I considered that the mixed methods
approach was also inappropriate for this study, as there was no quantitative
component required to address my study’s purpose.
Research Design
The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore the strategies
nonprofit organizations’ leaders employed to develop strategic intelligence-based
plans for organizations’ improvement. In using a case study design, researchers aim at
understanding the uniqueness of the specifics and the complexity of what they are
61
exploring (Petty, Thomson, & Stew, 2012). Some distinctive features of case studies
are the identifiable boundaries of the case, the possibility for an in-depth investigation
in real-life settings, the inclusion of the contextual conditions in the exploration, and
the use of various data sources (De Massis & Kotlar, 2014; Gaus, 2017; Leppäaho,
Plakoyiannaki, & Dimitratos, 2016; Percy, Kostere, & Kostere, 2015; Ridder, 2017).
Yin (2018) explained that one of the most significant elements of guiding the case
study choice is the nature of the research question and case studies relate to how and
why questions, contemporary events, and do not show a requirement for controlling
participants’ behavior.
A primary reason to prioritize a single case study design is the situation in
which the researcher can have exceptional access to the phenomenon under study to
achieve a greater understanding (De Massis & Kotlar, 2014). The advantage of the
single case study resides in the possibility to gather a detailed understanding of the
phenomenon by an in-depth investigation of the organizations’ documentation and
interviewing participants about their experiences (Ridder, 2017). Gaya and Smith
(2016) advanced the researcher’s possibility for a holistic and concentrated
investigation within a single case study and justified the use of the design in the area
of strategic management. Because the in-depth understanding of the strategic
intelligence-based strategy development within a nonprofit organization was the focus
of my study, combined with the unusual research access through the consulting
capstone program, the single case study was the appropriate design for addressing the
specific business problem.
Phenomenology is another qualitative design to explore experiences and is
useful in organizational research (Gill, 2014). Researchers can use phenomenological
62
design to reveal the meanings of participants’ lived experiences (Willgens et al.,
2016). Researchers using phenomenological design bear interest in exploring
attitudes, beliefs, opinions, and feelings with a particular focus on the inside
perspective rather than on the contextual settings provoking them (Percy et al., 2015).
Also, as the primary aim of using the phenomenological design is the understanding
of the experiences, researchers focus on gathering the data directly from the
participants in verbal form (Gill, 2014), which may limit the researchers’ possibilities
to enhance validity through triangulation methods. Phenomenology was not the
appropriate design for this study as I did not explore the participants’ experiences.
With ethnography researchers can pursue the investigation of shared cultures,
through the network of social groupings, customs, beliefs, behaviors, and practices
(Percy et al., 2015; Willgens et al., 2016). Aiming at identifying similarities or
differences in a large group of people, ethnographers can use various data sources to
achieve a deep understanding (Duque et al., 2019). Additionally, as ethnographers
focus on the causes while searching for common group patterns, some authors
recommended the use of ethnography for market research to enhance innovation and
disruptiveness (Meyer, Crane, & Lee, 2016). Given the merits of ethnography in
advancing deep understanding, the shared culture of individuals and the common
patterns were not the focus of my study.
Nelson (2016) explained that data saturation is essential in qualitative research
and researchers need to adapt the search for saturation to their specific design and
case. Fusch et al. (2018) noted the role of triangulation in contributing to rich data and
a deep understanding and promoted triangulation as a viable path to achieve data
saturation. Fusch and Ness (2015) contended that a researcher achieves data saturation
63
when additional sources do not bring new information and new coding is not possible
anymore. I achieved data saturation in following Fusch and Ness recommendations
and combined data from interviews of three senior leaders from the assigned nonprofit
organization, detailed notes-taking, internal documents reviews, and publicly
available data.
Population and Sampling
After formulating the research topic, the researcher needs to work on selecting
the population and sample (Yin, 2018). The population for this study comprised
senior leaders of a United States nonprofit organization located in the Midwest who
have developed effective plans for increasing organizational performance based on
strategic intelligence. I chose a sample size of four participants with the aim to
increase the possibility to obtain valuable data relevant to increasing organizational
performance through strategic intelligence. However, I reached data saturation with
three interviews. Francis et al. (2010) noted the tendency of justifying sample size
with data saturation in qualitative studies involving interviews of participants. Nelson
(2016) mentioned the lack of guidance about how to estimate the qualitative studies’
sample sizes as problematic to the concept of data saturation and provided a different
perspective about achieving data saturation. Fusch and Ness (2015) stated that
researchers should think about ensuring the richness and thickness of data to reach
data saturation, rather than determining a sample size. Therefore, achieving an in-
depth understanding of the phenomenon through quality and quantity of data was the
guiding principle and I considered that the sample size of three senior leaders was
appropriate for contributing to data saturation.
64
I selected participants as per the eligibility criteria to take part in this study.
The requirements included a senior leader of the nonprofit who has participated in the
strategic planning process of the organization and has developed effective plans for
increasing organizational performance. A popular method of selecting participants in
qualitative research is the purposeful sampling with the aim to reach respondents
possessing critical, pertinent, and abundant knowledge about the research question
(Benoot, Hannes, & Bilsen, 2016; Palinkas et al., 2015; Yin, 2018). I used purposeful
sampling for this study to ensure the information I gathered from the participants
aligned with the research question and supported data saturation.
To achieve data saturation, I interviewed the senior leaders, reviewed internal
documents, took notes and searched for related literature and public information. I
also relied on the exchanges with my assigned client organization leader and the
information I gathered through the Baldrige framework related discussions. The
exchanges with my client organization leader were essential to my understanding of
the holistic functioning of the nonprofit organization, and the information added value
to data saturation. Also, my client leader was a different person from the potential
respondents and represented an additional source of information. Various information
sources can help improve the quality and quantity of the data to achieve saturation and
triangulation (Fusch et al., 2018; Fusch & Ness, 2015; Nelson, 2016).
Ethical Research
I received Walden University IRB approval before the start of the exchanges
with the assigned client organization leader. My Walden University IRB approval
number for this study is 11-16-17-0647570. Upon the participants’ identification, I
contacted them to explain the purpose of the study, the voluntary nature of their
65
participation, the audio recording procedure during the interview, and addressed the
official informed consent letter for consideration and reply. The informed consent is
part of the ethical process of protecting human subjects through informing
participants about possible risks the study may present and obtaining the participants’
agreement to participate in the study (Perrault & Keating, 2018). The informed
consent letter I addressed to the senior leaders repeated the brief description of the
study, interview procedures, voluntary nature of participation and procedures to
withdraw, privacy information, researcher, and Walden University contact
information for additional questions. As many persons participating in social sciences
research do not read the consent form or do not understand it, I followed Perrault and
Keating (2018) recommendations to use a short text containing only essential
information. Also, the discussions or e-mails before sending the official form
supported the participants’ attention to the process of informed consent.
Yin (2018) discussed the fact that research involving human subjects requires
that researchers are attentive to various ethical aspects. Tolich et al. (2017)
highlighted the significance for researchers to respect the participants’ autonomy
through the concept of voluntary participation in the process of informed consent.
Voluntary participation and confidentiality are some of the primary ethical
components researchers use to provide the possibility for potential participants to take
an informed decision about their willingness to take part in the study or not (Ruiz-
Casares & Thompson, 2016). Once I received a consent, verbal or written, for the
senior leaders’ participation in my study, I addressed the official informed consent e-
mail, containing the explanation of voluntary participation. Voluntary participation
means that participants are free to withdraw from the study at any moment. An
66
informed decision to participate involved responding to the official informed consent
e-mail with the words “I consent”.
I informed the senior leaders who confirmed with an informed consent their
participation in the study about the procedures to withdraw from the study.
Participants could withdraw by notifying me by phone or e-mail about their decision
at any time. Also, I have the responsibility to keep confidential the information
participants provided, and I ensured the data is safe and not revealed to any other
participant. The participants in my study did not receive any form of compensation for
their participation. I will keep confidential the identities of the nonprofit organization
and the senior leaders who participated in this study. I used the pseudonym “BC” to
refer to the organization. To protect the respondents’ identities, I used such labels as
Participant 3, Participant 5, and Participant 7. I ensured the participants understand
that the interviews’ transcripts were confidential, but they could access their
respective data for exactness review at any moment. After the study, I ensured storing
the data in a secured and protected place for 5 years.
Data Collection Instruments
The researcher is the primary data collection instrument in qualitative research
(Fletcher et al., 2016; Gaus, 2017; Yin, 2018); I held this role for my study. I
collected data through semistructured interviews, and reviews of internal and public
documents and peer-reviewed literature. I conducted semistructured interviews with
open-ended questions with three senior leaders of a United States nonprofit
organization located in the Midwest.
Hawkins (2018) stated that semistructured interviews with the identified
participants are one of the most popular data collection methods in qualitative
67
research. Researchers use semistructured interviews to reveal the participants’ views
about an experience in connection with the research topic (McIntosh & Morse, 2015).
When combined with other sources of information, data from interviews are useful to
achieve triangulation and saturation (Fusch & Ness, 2015). I developed eight
interview questions for the study participants in connection to the research question
and in considering the Baldrige framework. My intention was to use the interview
questions systematically to help ensure that every participant received one and the
same procedure. As recommended by Castillo-Montoya (2016), I used an interview
protocol (see Appendix) as a guide during the interview process for consistency
purposes.
After having transcribed the interviews, I conducted member checking with
the participants to ensure my analysis of the responses was accurate and met the intent
of their responses. To check and confirm the results after interviews and data
analyses, the researchers can use member checking (Birt, Scott, Cavers, Campbell, &
Walter, 2016). Member checking consists of providing the interviewer’s analysis back
to the participant with the aim to obtain confirmation of accuracy in capturing the
intent of the responses (Birt et al., 2016; Morse, 2015). To ensure accuracy and
recognition of the interviewee’s experience, I submitted my analysis of the interview
responses to the participants to review to ensure I captured the intent of the responses.
Data Collection Technique
For this qualitative single case study, I used semistructured interviews with the
sampled senior leaders of the organization, as well as reviews of internal documents,
and such publicly accessible information as related websites and official nonprofit
reports. I also used triangulation and member checking to help me achieve data
68
saturation. I completed each interview using the interview protocol (see Appendix).
The semistructured interviews as a data collection technique are helpful to researchers
for revealing the participants’ perspectives about an experience in connection with the
research topic (McIntosh & Morse, 2015). Interviews involving open-ended questions
will provide the opportunity to gather detailed and informative responses as compared
to the answers of closed-ended questions (Castillo-Montoya, 2016). The
disadvantages of using interviews as a data-collection technique involve bias and
miscommunication (Castillo-Montoya, 2016; Harvey, 2015).
Yin (2018) explained that reviewing various documents to complement other
data sources is part of the listening process in case study research. The advantage of
using documents review to complement other sources include achieving data
saturation (Fusch & Ness, 2015). Yin discussed a possible disadvantage of documents
review might occur in cases when the documents are not complete and can lead to
selective information.
Birt et al. (2016) explained that member checking is a process the researcher
can use to ensure that results reflect the experiences of the participants. Member
checking consists of allowing the participant to review the researcher’s analysis to
verify the accuracy of the interpretations (Birt et al., 2016). I used member checking
after the interviews to enhance accuracy, validity, and reliability.
Data Organization Techniques
Yin (2018) discussed that researchers need to be attentive to the organization
of the data they collect from the respondents as well-structured data can help to
enhance understanding. Additionally, in efficiently organizing the data in a system,
researchers can ensure time-saving access (Yin, 2018). I stored and organized the data
69
from this study in organized folders on my computer. The folders and files had names
in a way to form a logical system, pertinent to the research topic, the Baldrige
framework categories, and the interview questions. Ensuring confidentiality is
essential in ethical research (Ruiz-Casares & Thompson, 2016). To ensure
confidentiality during data storing I used a pseudonym for the nonprofit organization
and confidential labels for the participants.
I used Microsoft Word software for the interviews’ transcriptions. I stored
each transcript separately, dated, and under the coded designation of each participant.
In separate folders, I saved the internal nonprofit organization documents and data
pertinent to the Baldrige categories. As I could have access to various types of
internal documents, the ethical responsibility to the organization requires that I
referred to information which is pertinent to the research topic. Taylor and Land
(2014) suggested that researchers should restrict organizational data use to what is
relevant to the research topic. Also, I will keep safe the research related data and
documentation for 5 years succeeding the completion of the study.
Amankwaa (2016) explained that creating and using a reflexive journal can
help qualitative researchers address mainly confirmability, but also credibility, and
transferability. The reflexive journal is a diary the researcher can create to note
methodological decisions and thoughts about understanding, values, and believes
during the research process (Amankwaa, 2016). In a separate Microsoft Word file, I
noted my understanding of the organization’s and participants’ data at the interview,
analysis, and theme production stages.
70
Data Analysis
Abdalla, Oliveira, Azevedo, and Gonzalez (2018) reviewed strategies to
improve the quality of qualitative research. Abdalla et al. promoted triangulation as an
effective strategy. One of the most widely used strategies, methodological
triangulation, is the crossing of multiple data with the aim to obtain thorough
information about the research topic (Abdalla et al., 2018). For the analysis of the data
from my study, I used methodological triangulation. Fusch et al. (2018) defined
methodological triangulation as the use of several sources of data within a case study.
Triangulating data from interviews and documents for the analysis is helpful to
achieve data saturation, improve data comprehension, and enhance the study’s
credibility (Abdalla et al., 2018; Fusch et al., 2018; Fusch & Ness, 2015; Yin, 2018).
To support the methodological triangulation, I categorized the data from the
interviews and the documents into themes, aligned the sources as per the categories
and searched for possible patterns across the sources.
The data analysis process involved the following steps: (a) listening of the
interviews’ recordings, (b) transcription, (c) categorization and coding, and (d)
member checking. Coding is an essential process of data analysis and respecting
clarity of codes’ definition and mutual exclusiveness rules when coding
semistructured interviews positively influences the reliability of the study (Campbell,
Quincy, Osserman, & Pedersen, 2013). I compiled all data into a Microsoft Word
document and looked for recurring themes across data and sources. Once I identified
and highlighted repetitive or similar information, I assigned a specific code to respect
mutual exclusiveness. I reorganized the data according to the coded themes in the file
manually.
71
The codes and themes I developed entered in a comparison with the
components of Maccoby and Scudder (2011) strategic intelligence system.
Additionally, I used the Baldrige framework for data collection purposes which
assisted me in detecting factors for organizational improvement. As the conceptual
framework for this study is Maccoby and Scudder strategic intelligence system, I
cross-referenced data from the interviews, documents, the Baldrige framework, and
the components of strategic intelligence.
Reliability and Validity
Reliability
Yin (2018) and Singh (2014) referred to reliability as the capacity to show that
such operations as data collection, for instance, are repeatable and can lead to
identical results. Yin and Singh viewed case study reliability as the researcher’s
undertakings to deal with mitigating errors and bias. Morse (2015) explained that
dependability is a strategy to ensure rigor in qualitative research and that researchers
should understand dependability as reliability. Authors discussed various means to
achieve a study’s dependability, such as using triangulation, following an interview
protocol, and acknowledging the researcher’s personal lens (Castillo-Montoya, 2016;
Fusch et al., 2018; Fusch & Ness, 2015; Morse, 2015).
To ensure the dependability of my study, I used different data sources, such as
interviews with three senior leaders, reviews of internal and publicly available
documents, the Baldrige-led discussions with my client leader, and note-taking.
During the interviews, I followed the interview protocol (see Appendix). I used
member checking to ensure accuracy of interpretation and mitigate the personal lens
interference.
72
Validity
Singh (2014) explained that validity issues in case study research relate to the
researchers’ focus on findings rather than on the process of reaching them, the
researcher’s sole capacity to process the information, and the researchers’ private
work on the field. Morse (2015) provided some strategies to enhance qualitative
research validity and reliability. Some of the validity strategies include prolonged
engagement, thick description, triangulation, and researcher’s bias clarification
(Morse, 2015).
Gaya and Smith (2016) explained that credibility is a criterium of
trustworthiness in single case study research and is comparable to the internal validity
of quantitative studies. Harvey (2015) noted that the most significant technique
researchers could use to ensure credibility is member checking. I used member
checking to verify the accuracy of my analysis and achieve credibility of my study. I
contacted each participant and submitted his or her transcribed interview and the
interpretation of the data.
Another criterium of single case study trustworthiness is the transferability or
external validity (Gaya & Smith, 2016). Fusch et al. (2018) explained that qualitative
research transferability is the provision of the necessary information to replicate the
study. Transferability is not about generalizing the findings across contexts but rather
about ensuring a justified research process from which the readers and future
researchers can determine the transferability of the findings (Fusch et al., 2018).
Teusner (2016) discussed the significance of presenting the collection and
interpretation of the data and the findings openly and transparently to ensure validity
and also avoid the external validity debate. Fusch et al. noted the worth of
73
triangulation to ensure the validity of the findings. I ensured a detailed description of
the data collection and interpretation and used methodological triangulation.
Researchers linked confirmability to objectivity (Morse, 2015; Teusner, 2016).
Hays et al. (2016) discussed that confirmability is the accuracy of perceiving and
presenting the views of the participants and limiting the interference of the
researcher’s bias. Some strategies to ensure confirmability include prolonged
engagement, thick description, triangulation, and member checking (Fusch et al.,
2018; Hays et al., 2016). Amankwaa (2016) suggested using reflexive journal
techniques to enhance a study’s confirmability. I noted in a separate Microsoft Word
document my understanding of the organization’s and participants’ data at the
interview, analysis, and theme production stages.
Data saturation impacts the study’s quality and validity (Fusch & Ness, 2015;
Nelson, 2016). Using triangulation can help researchers achieve a depth of the
collected information and data saturation (Fusch et al., 2018; Nelson, 2016). Nelson
(2016) highlighted the significance of making data saturation decisions during the
research process and reporting them accordingly in the study. In my study, I applied
methodological triangulation in using multiple data sources and reported on the
achieved data saturation.
Transition and Summary
In Section 2, I discussed the purpose of the study, the role of the researcher,
the research method and design, and the participants’ eligibility criteria and sample
size.
The section also included information about data collection methods, and
techniques, and ethical procedures. I presented some strategies to ensure the reliability
74
and validity of the study. I conducted semistructured telephone interviews with three
senior leaders of my client organization to explore strategies some nonprofit leaders
use to develop plans based on strategic intelligence for improving their organizations’
performance. I applied methodological triangulation in using data from the interviews
and the documents the client leader will provide about the organization. I used
methodological triangulation also to achieve data saturation. I organized and secured
the data and performed the data analysis through themes development. I used member
checking and notes taking to ensure the study’s trustworthiness.
In Section 3, I presented the organization BC’s profile. The section included a
review of the organization as per the Baldrige framework components. Finally, I
presented the findings, an executive summary of key themes, project summary and
contributions, and recommendations for future research.
75
Section 3: Organizational Profile
Professionals around the world consider the Baldrige Excellence Framework
to be the best standard management tool for ensuring improved performance in
organizations through a systems perspective (Bailey, 2015). Leaders from the for-
profit and nonprofit sectors in all industries, including health care and education, and
many countries apply the Baldrige Excellence Framework to cope with change,
improve results, and achieve organizational excellence (Bailey, 2015). Experts
working for the Baldrige initiative reported impressive levels of return on investment
(Bailey, 2015). For the Baldrige Award double winner organizations, growth in sites,
revenues, and employment ranged between 60% and 95% (Bailey, 2015).
Organization BC (pseudonym) is one of the 60 U.S. accrediting organizations
recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). The leaders
and members of the organization strive to ensure the highest educational standards in
many countries worldwide, and they have an ongoing commitment to developing
successful strategies to face challenges related to regulatory, social, technological, and
other changes. Organization BC leaders are part of the world community of
professionals relying on the power of the Baldrige Excellence Framework to ensure
continuous improvement and lead change in higher education.
Key Factors Worksheet
Organizational Description
Organization BC is a U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization located in the
Midwest. Organization BC is one of the 60 accrediting U.S. organizations recognized
by the CHEA. In establishing the organization, the senior leaders addressed the need
to help advance the teaching orientation of schools. Organization BC is a professional
76
service organization, and its primary services are accrediting business, accounting,
and business-related programs at the associate, baccalaureate, master, and doctoral
levels worldwide, within the scope of CHEA’s recognized accrediting activities.
According to records provided by the organization’s members the senior
leaders of Organization BC designed the accreditation standards to promote students’
success orientation in teaching and learning methods, as well as to meet local and
international employers’ needs for knowledgeable decision makers able to address
complex issues. Continuous improvement is central in the accreditation processes, and
the senior leaders guide their organization’s accrediting members towards
implementing its principles through the use of the Baldrige framework. The focus on
the Baldrige framework is essential for the accredited entities and also supports
students’ preparedness to face business challenges and meet employers’ expectations.
Accreditation is a way to ensure education’s quality, and Organization BC
activities show the organization’s significant role in promoting teaching excellence
around the globe. Organization BC senior leaders, staff, and volunteers lead
accrediting operations in more than 60 countries, work with more than 1,200 member-
campuses, and have accredited approximately 3,000 business education programs.
The organization’s leaders aim to provide a unique accreditation process that is
helpful in improving both business education and practice, while valuing their
individual members’ specifics and success.
Organizational environment. Organization BC leaders operate within a
knowledge-centric and regulated environment. The leaders ensure the mission’s
execution through a member-centric approach based on an excellence- and continuous
improvement-driven organizational philosophy. However, the leaders may face a need
77
to reinvent the organization’s purpose and role following possible significant changes
in regulatory requirements.
Product offerings. Organization BC primary services include (a) accrediting
business education programs at the associate, baccalaureate, master, and doctoral
levels; (b) accrediting certificates; and (c) delivering accreditation-focused workshops
and Baldrige model trainings. Supporting services include (a) editing a peer-reviewed
journal to foster teaching excellence through research in various business disciplines;
(b) developing and putting in place partnerships to enhance students’ learning and
experience, as well as to foster educational members’ continuous improvement; and
(c) promoting a large international forum for networking among academic and
corporate professionals. The organization’s leaders and staff have also put in place for
their members a branded articles shop offering selected small merchandising materials
the members can use in their operations.
According to reviewed documents and interviewed leaders, the primary
services and the accompanying process designed as per the Baldrige framework
ensure the educational quality of the accredited programs and certificates. The
organization’s senior leaders articulated the accreditation process around a systematic
approach directly bound to Organization BC’s mission. Some guiding principles the
senior leaders engraved within the organization’s primary activities are the
recognition of the diversity and accessibility components of institutions’ missions.
The primary activities design shows practical support and excellence-driven tools
which the organization’s staff and volunteers deploy as a direct input to the members’
accreditation-related efforts. The procedures the senior leaders, staff, and volunteers
follow for delivering the organization’s primary services demonstrate a willingness
78
for accountability to stakeholders, reinforce the accrediting institution’s legitimacy,
and are central to its performance.
Joining Organization BC as a member involves meeting the eligibility criteria
and then completing a membership application form available online and supplying
the required documentation with the membership fee. Members willing to pursue
accreditation need to submit a specific candidacy document (also available online),
pay the required fee, and answer a questionnaire accessible through a dedicated online
platform. A volunteer mentor elaborates a gap analysis and provides authorization for
a complete self-study. Upon completion and submission of the self-study,
Organization BC staff and volunteers execute site-visits of the institution. Delivering
Organization BC’s primary services involves using technology, staff, and volunteers’
engagement and time, travel, knowledge, rigor, and ethics in the evaluation pipeline.
Together with engagement and integrity, the volunteers’ knowledge of and respect for
the organization’s accreditation guidelines, criteria, and procedures are essential for
the quality of the delivered services and may impact the organization’s activities and
reputation. As more than 60% of the newly accredited programs are international,
Organization BC leaders enjoy a high level of volunteer diversity within their
members’ pool.
Mission, vision, and values. Organization BC senior leaders have shaped the
organization’s mission, vision, and activities in compliance with such leading values
as teaching excellence and the significance of students’ learning (see Figure 1). The
accreditation criteria show the promotion of core values emanating from the Baldrige
and some other compatible excellence models. The core competency of the
organization consists of recognizing excellence in education and piloting continuous
79
improvement and directly relates to the mission statement. The senior leaders chose to
develop a vision based on a desire to accredit each qualifying business program
globally.
Figure 1. Mission, vision, and values.
Workforce profile. Appointed by and reporting to the board of directors,
Organization BC’s CEO employs 16 persons in permanent positions focused on
accomplishing and promoting the organization’s mission. Split into departments, the
permanent employees perform duties in the areas of accreditation, membership and
administration, marketing, communications, events, accounting, web design, and
information systems, and direct the organization’s local and foreign activities. Four of
the employees joined the organization in 2018 to enhance the organization’s
international growth and stakeholder focus, public relations, and accountability.
Three of the 17 permanent positions represent the presidential and chief
officers’ functions, all of them highly and uniquely experienced and skilled in their
respective areas, possessing masters and doctoral degrees as required. Seven persons
Mission: To promote continuous improvement and recognize excellence
Vision: To accredit every quality business program worldwide
Values: To focus on learning, leadership, continuous improvement, faculty and staff involvement, internal and external partnering, define quality, plan for the long-term, evidence-based management, societal responsibility, result orientation, and prompt reaction to stakeholders’ needs
80
direct the dedicated units supported by seven more experts, who also fully meet the
required skills and educational qualifications. The members of the organization’s
permanent team engage in delivering Organization BC’s mission and vision through
their passion for excellence, learning, and continuous improvement. Table 1 includes
information on the educational level of Organization BC members by role.
Table 1
Workforce Profile as per the Minimum Requirement for Education
Role f Educational requirements
Board members 19 100% met earned master's degree
Boards of Commissioners'
members 23 100% met earned master's degree
Accreditation Governance Board 11 100% met earned master's degree
Chief officers and directors 10 100% met earned master's degree
Full-time staff members 7 100% met earned bachelor's degree
Volunteers 350 100% met earned master's degree
Organization BC employees undergo safety instructions when joining and
follow health and safety training to maintain knowledge about how to react in critical
situations or prevent from daily accidents. The organizations’ working facilities
correspond to the applicable health and safety requirements of the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration.
Assets. The primary assets of Organization BC include the knowledge, people,
and technology related directly and indirectly to the mission’s execution and the
teams and volunteers’ motivation and commitment. The senior leaders of the
organization conduct operations from offices in the United States, Europe, and Latin
America, equipped with information and communication systems. A specific
81
technological asset is the webpage of the organization, equipped with a secured and
dedicated online platform, allowing to process, follow-up, and review the
accreditation candidates’ self-study, submit and receive comments and feedback, and
review accreditation process progress. The webpage is usable by the general online
public worldwide and is helpful with information about the organization,
programmatic accreditation and the advantages for the various stakeholders, how to
join and pursue accreditation, as well as about the related organization’s events and
news.
Regulatory requirements. Organization BC is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt
nonprofit organization as per the provisions of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
code. To respond to the IRS requirements of a tax-exempt nonprofit organization, the
senior leaders elaborate and submit an IRS Form 990 as the annual financial report.
Organization BC senior leaders respect the required IRS compliance and annually
submit IRS Form 990, the most recent submission dated October 2018.
Organization BC is also a professional service nonprofit organization
affiliated and officially recognized by the CHEA. Because their organization is one of
the organizations recognized by the CHEA, Organization BC senior leaders must
render the functioning of their organization fully compliant with the CHEA
requirements. Two types of accreditation exist in the United States, institutional and
programmatic. The institutional accreditation, national or regional, shows that an
entire university or college has the necessary level of academic quality. The
specialized or programs accreditation demonstrates the academic quality of a single
program within an educational institution. Organization BC specializes in business
education program accreditation. The CHEA decision makers recognized the
82
organization as a business education program accreditor in the United States and
internationally. Organization BC decision makers accredit business education
programs in compliance with the CHEA-recognized scope of accreditation in the
United States and many foreign countries, within already nationally or regionally
accredited institutions, or otherwise legally complying to academic quality if
international.
The members of the CHEA put forward strict standards for their recognized
members. The standards include six main areas, which are (a) advancing academic
quality, (b) showing accountability, (c) helping to plan for change or improvement,
(d) making decisions while using trustworthy procedures, (e) continuously evaluating
accreditation practices, and (f) having adequate resources (CHEA, 2010). The mission
of Organization BC, as well as the accreditation procedures and criteria the leaders
apply, are consistent with the CHEA-recognized scope and intense focus on academic
quality. To maintain the recognized status, CHEA member institutions’ leaders need
to undergo a complete review process every 10 years and supply interim reports every
3 years. Organization BC leaders executed a CHEA interim report in 2017 and are
heading towards a 10 year review in 2020 unless changes in the Higher Education Act
impact the functioning of accreditation institutions.
The 2017-2018 suggestions and steps about rethinking the United States’
Higher Education Act, including the accreditation provisions, may lead to substantial
changes in the actual concept and practice of accreditation (CHEA, 2018). The CHEA
leaders informed their members about the challenges the major changes may provoke
(CHEA, 2018). Some of the primary concerns the CHEA leaders advanced to their
members’ attention are the (a) focus on public accountability instead of academic
83
quality, (b) requirement for innovative approaches to quality reviews backed up by
some regulatory relief and flexibility, (c) complete revision of the accreditation
principles and practices, and (d) different role of the United States Department of
Education (USDE) about accreditation (CHEA, 2018). The implications of the
targeted changes may lead to a different meaning and execution of students’ learning
and teaching, profoundly altered competitive settings, and changed relationships
among accrediting organizations and the USDE as the inherent controlling authority.
The potential regulation changes, if agreed and implemented, may lead to the need to
reinvent the purpose of accreditation. The leaders of all accrediting organizations like
the Organization BC, firmly compliant with the CHEA recognition scope and
requirements, may need to envision and guide organizational metamorphoses.
Organizational relationships. The leaders of Organization BC established
structures and processes to ensure the organizational relationships’ integration with
the execution of the mission. The leadership philosophy the leaders articulated
towards excellence, coupled with the values of respect and valuing input, enable the
ample functioning of timely and fulfilling relationships with the organizations’
members, stakeholders, and suppliers and partners. The leaders appropriately set for
an amalgamation of working, contractual, and communication-led settings to address
the mission achievement and organizational improvement purposes.
Organizational structure. Organization BC founders and leaders set for a
member-centered organization. The organization’s members, with one vote per
institution, elect the board of directors, the two boards of commissioners, and the
accreditation governance board. All educational institution members of the
organization are also members of one of the commissions dedicated to either associate
84
degree or baccalaureate and graduate degree, depending on which is the highest
degree the member’s business unit offers. The commissions’ members approve
changes or creation of accreditation policies and procedures with 2/3rds of the votes
of the present commissioners. The accreditation governance board members help the
commissions’ members with periodic reviews of the accreditation policies and
procedures.
The board of directors comprises 18 voting members and one non-voting ex-
officio member, the president and CEO. The permanently employed persons of
Organization BC report to the board of the directors. The members of the board of
directors establish the guiding lines necessary to the functioning of Organization BC,
monitor and evaluate management and activities progress, approve policies, annual
budget, and fiscal planning. Among the functions of the board of directors’ members
are public relations, promotional, information gathering, and representative activities.
The members of the boards of directors and commissioners can establish various ad
hoc and standing committees and task force groups, as well as assign their specific
duties about the desired initiatives or projects. The committees’ and task force
members input is essential to the proper functioning of the organization. The
possibility to establish committees and taskforce groups is the result of the willingness
of Organization BC leaders to achieve a high level of inclusiveness and collaboration
among members.
Figure 2 shows a visual representation of the connections among the
organization’s governing bodies and the main focus of their functions. With the set
governance structure, the members of the organization have a central role in providing
input and participating in decision-making. Mirabeau et al. (2015) argued that
85
governance structure might have an impact on strategic planning outcomes in some
specialized and high performing nonprofit organizations. The organization’s BC
governance setting is helpful to facilitate intense information gathering from different
parts of the world and increase stakeholder participation and collaboration.
Figure 2. Governance structure.
Customers and stakeholders. The Organization BC leaders consider their
members as the primary customers and deploy their efforts and resources to support
teaching quality excellence achievement and continuous improvement of accreditation
candidates and accredited members. The organization’s leaders, staff, and involved
volunteers apply rigorous eligibility and assessment criteria based on the Baldrige
excellence framework to ensure constancy in quality levels and engage members in
existing improvement opportunities about teaching and students’ learning outcomes
assessment. The Organization BC leaders identified three customer segments, one
grouping the associate degrees members, another one involving members delivering
baccalaureate and doctorate degrees, and a third one including members delivering
certificates. Dedicated manuals to each of the segments show to evaluators and
members the processes, procedures, and detailed criteria about how to engage and
achieve accredited status. The Organization BC teams support learning about
86
accreditation and Baldrige through additional training, conferences, and events. The
organization’s leaders also surpass the pure focus on accreditation and quality with
some recent initiatives designed to offer research and statistical data on various topics
about education, teaching, learning, and business.
The Organization BC leaders consider students, employers, and the general
public as their primary stakeholders. The senior leaders promote communication and
the Organization BC benefits to students through the organization’s webpage, social
media, a dedicated brochure to students’ benefits, and through their institutional
members. The students’ benefits from choosing an Organization BC-accredited school
include (a) being part of an education community offering various exchanges and
international learning opportunities, (b) participating into socially-oriented
entrepreneurial projects, and (c) demonstrating the quality of education to employers.
The Organization BC website, a dedicated brochure, and the accredited
educational members’ business advisory boards are the most significant
communication tools to inform and stay in touch with employers, as well as to learn
about their future needs and expectations. The global education network opportunity,
enhanced local business relationships, and the readiness for high performance in
challenging situations of the students, are some of the advantages Organization BC
accreditation can bring to employers. Table 2 shows the way Organization BC leaders
aligned the key customers and stakeholders'-related processes to reflect the necessary
levels of communication regarding the organization's mission accomplishment.
87
Table 2
Key Customers and Stakeholders Requirements
Key customers Key requirements Integration
Members
delivering
associate degrees
Dedicated eligibility criteria,
standards, and detailed process
manual
Processes designed to
deliver support to each
customer segment:
Baldrige-based assessment
guidance and training,
dedicated sessions,
conferences, networking
opportunities, one-on-one
meetings, provision of
statistical data, and
research, related to
education, teaching,
learning, and business
Members
delivering
baccalaureate to
doctorate degrees
Dedicated eligibility criteria,
standards, and detailed process
manual
Members
delivering
certificates
Dedicated eligibility criteria,
standards, and detailed process
manual
Key stakeholders Key requirements Integration
Students Awareness about the benefits of
choosing an accredited program
Communication through
the accredited institutions,
social media, and a
dedicated brochure
available on the website;
Partnerships to support
students' decision-making
learning.
Employers
Information about the employers'
needs and expectations, as well
as about the benefits of hiring
from accredited programs
Communication through
the business advisory
boards, dedicated brochure
available online, website,
and events
General public
Ethical communication of
accredited programs and
certificates
Training and on-going
compliance verification of
members' communication
Community Environmental-friendliness and
volunteering
Up to three days paid
leaves for volunteering
Suppliers and partners. The Organization BC leaders decided to outsource
payroll and human resources services and are using a specialized company supporting
the organization’s team focus on delivering the mission and receive professional input
at an optimal cost. The organization’s teams also use external suppliers for some
88
specific web and database management needs, specific business research, and some
marketing materials and merchandising needs. A significant group of suppliers for the
organization’s mission execution are the volunteers serving as mentors and
evaluators. Some of the suppliers’ groups have a specific contribution to promoting
the achievement of supporting innovation in different areas, and all suppliers
contribute to the successful accomplishment of the organization’s mission in respect
with the efficiency of using resources.
Organization BC leaders offer the possibility for a corporate membership to
such organizations as businesses, nonprofit, government institutions, professional
associations, and so forth, not delivering academic degree courses. The corporate
members are partnering with the Organization BC in areas supporting educational
members’ development, growth, and planning, student enrolment, student learning,
assessment, and career development. The Organization BC senior leaders promoted
partnerships pertinent to the organization’s mission and supporting innovation,
knowledge, and outreach. The corporate members also receive multiple advantages
and the opportunity to promote their businesses and sell ideas to a large, international,
and well-targeted segment of educational institutions. A significant benefit is the
possibility of corporate members to participate in various committees, share ideas,
and influence the policies and procedures of the Organization BC, which also
represents a two-way communication option with a high level of involvement.
The Organization BC leaders have four affiliate organizations. The affiliate
organizations’ relationship involves a signed memorandum of understanding for
mutual support. The relationships with the affiliates, based on sharing common values
and goals, help the senior leaders ensure keeping a close sight at the area of
89
accreditation and its advancement. Table 3 shows how Organization BC leaders chose
to position the types of suppliers' and partners' relationship within the partnering
continuum to ensure the mission's execution appropriately.
Table 3
Key Suppliers and Partners Requirements
Key suppliers Key requirements Integration
Human resources and
payroll Contractual Cost optimization for
targeted services,
allowing the team to
focus on delivering the
mission
Web and database
management Contractual
Marketing and
merchandising Contractual
Legal, accounting, and
financial audit service
providers
As per the bylaws'
dispositions, financial
auditors change every three
years after a successful bid;
Contractual
Highly specialized
services as per the
governance rules, in
respect of ethics and
transparency
Research and consulting
services Contractual, ad hoc
Targeted services,
providing information to
members and supporting
their planning and
excellence orientation
Volunteers as mentors
and evaluators
Knowledge about the
accreditation process,
criteria, and Baldrige
Dedicated training
accomplishment
Proximity
Part of the core
competency necessary to
deliver the mission
Involvement in training
and events to acquire the
needed knowledge and
align with the values
Key partners Key pequirements Integration
Corporate members Not delivering academic
degree courses
Targeted choice,
compelling in supporting
the educational members'
development and growth
Two-way communication
and active involvement
opportunities
Affiliates
Memorandum of
understanding for mutual
support
Share common values
Accreditation and
excellence-focused
90
Organizational Situation
The leaders of Organization BC face intense competition from established and
newer similar organizations for securing existing memberships and acquiring new
ones. Changing regulations in the area of accreditation are another significant factor
the leaders are considering, as they can impact the roles and number of accreditors.
The leaders prioritized a risk-related approach for the short and midterm strategic
choices to ensure performance improvement.
Competitive environment. The leaders of Organization BC run their
operations in competition with two primary accreditors providing similar services.
The organizational resources of the three competitors are significantly different. The
leaders of Organization BC chose the Baldrige framework adherence to build the
distinctiveness of the organization’s competitive positioning.
Competitive position. The Organization BC is part of the 60 CHEA-
recognized programmatic accrediting organizations. Among the accrediting
organizations, two United States-based organizations are direct competitors with
international outreach. The Organization BC ranks second among the three
organizations as per the level of revenues.
Competitor 1 is the oldest organization, delivering services since 1916 and
having the largest pool of members, accredited programs, and international presence.
As observable in Figure 3, regarding total revenue, Competitor 1 is 10 times bigger
than Organization BC. Competitor 1 is also a formerly recognized organization by
both the CHEA and the United States Department of Education.
91
Figure 3. Competitors’ revenue levels and growth.
Since 2016, Competitor 1 leaders decided to withdraw from the CHEA recognized
status following a non-compliance with the CHEA standard about public
accountability for students’ achievement. Competitor 1 leaders chose to pursue
certification from the International Standardization Organization (ISO), the leading
businesses standardization body. The Competitor 1 leaders’ choice of ISO
certification may help them place the organization more effectively closer to business
organizations, provide new strategic, compelling partnership axes, and support an
extended positioning far beyond education quality and teaching.
The youngest accrediting organization, with CHEA-recognition status,
operating from 1998, is Competitor 2. Although relatively recent, the Competitor 2
leaders’ accrediting activities and revenue generation show a position right behind the
Organization BC. As Figure 3 indicates, the revenue gap between Competitor 2 and
the Organization BC is relatively much smaller than the revenue gap between the
Organization BC and Competitor 1.
Competitor 2 leaders accredit programs while focusing on the educational
outcomes directly emanating from the accredited business unit’s mission, which may
provide for a fast-growing base for institutional and programs recruitment and
0
5000000
10000000
15000000
20000000
25000000
2014 2015 2016
Total Revenue in USD as per IRS Form 990
Competitor 1 Black Sea Company Competitor 2
92
accreditation. Competitor 1 leaders ground their competitive positioning in powerful
inspirational visions largely surpassing the pure accreditation and education focus.
Competitor 1 leaders embraced a mission about designing the future leaders in
connecting students, businesses, and education, while relying on the highest
excellence criteria, asserting quality, business education intelligence, as well as on the
reputation of long and successful history of accreditation, leading institutions, and
personalities. The essence of the Organization BC current competitive positioning
shows a sharp, still narrow, focus on teaching quality, related excellence, and
continuous improvement, vigorously consistently executed throughout the
organization and its activities.
While reflecting and studying the three organizations’ competitive
positionings, researchers did not find evidence for a sufficient distinction among the
three organizations (McConnell, Rush, & Gartland, 2016). Bennett, Geringer, and
Taylor (2015) found that students selecting undergraduate business majors have
positive perceptions of accreditation, but lack knowledge and awareness about the
specialized accrediting organizations. Bennett et al. also revealed that although
positively perceived, accreditation value is not a factor in the university choice, but
that location and cost of tuition are the major influencers for undergraduate students.
Doh, Prince, McLain, and Credle (2018) found that for a specific segment of colleges,
Competitor 1 accreditation does not support students’ enrollment success. Doh et al.
distinguished among the three competitors’ positioning in noting that Competitor 1
leaders practice research-oriented requirements and guidance, while the two other
organizations’ leaders focus on outcomes-based approaches. Doh et al. mentioned that
all three organizations’ accreditations are a sign of distinction in business education
93
for the accredited programs. Hunt (2015) did not find consistent evidence about the
superior effect of Competitor 1 accreditation on students’ jobs finding, teaching
quality, and so forth, and advanced the view that some educational institutions’
leaders may use accreditation as a necessity to prove meeting some standards than
excellence standards. The Organization BC leaders’ choice of amplifying the use of
the Baldrige model, however, is a compelling path for building a distinctive
positioning shortly. Organization BC leaders can consider a complete integration with
Baldrige and other dominant business excellence global organizations to identify as
the Baldrige educational and accrediting body. The Organization BC leaders can
combine the choice of becoming fully incorporated into the Baldrige institution with a
new approach towards students and employers.
The figures in Table 4 show a general progressive increase in total revenues
for the three organizations. However, the revenues from program services’ figures
show a slight irregularity for Competitor 1, which compensates with the steadily
increasing contributions. Unlike Competitor 1, the figures reflecting the Organization
BC revenues from contributions show a decreasing pattern. Competitor 2 leaders
reported no revenues from contributions for the last 5 years.
94
Table 4
Revenues and Expenses Highlights per Competitor
Total revenue in USD as per IRS Form 990
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Competitor 1 $15,104,685 $16,051,558 $16,729,549 $17,127,021 $20,637,532 $20,530,524
Organization
BC $1,935,405 $2,066,185 $2,287,839 $2,455,363 $2,433,713 na
Competitor 2 $963,471 $1,071,344 $1,167,658 $1,123,580 $1,198,925 na
Total revenue as per IRS Form 990 and evolution
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Competitor 1
in USD $15,104,685 $16,051,558 $16,729,549 $17,127,021 $20,637,532 $20,530,524
Evolution
versus past
year 6.27% 4.22% 2.38% 20.50% -0.52%
Organization
BC in USD $1,935,405 $2,066,185 $2,287,839 $2,455,363 $2,433,713 na
Evolution
versus past
year 6.76% 10.73% 7.32% -0.88% Competitor 2
in USD $963,471 $1,071,344 $1,167,658 $1,123,580 $1,198,925 na
Evolution
versus past
year 11.20% 8.99% -3.77% 6.71%
Revenue from program services as per IRS Form 990
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Competitor 1
in USD $12,149,538 $11,686,555 $12,605,982 $11,314,381 $15,739,204 $15,001,089
Evolution
versus past
year -3.81% 7.87% -10.25% 39.11% -4.69%
Organization
BC in USD $1,414,339 $1,376,302 $1,694,145 $1,981,160 $2,044,676 na
Evolution
versus past
year -2.69% 23.09% 16.94% 3.21% Competitor 2
in USD $630,090 $731,400 $789,984 $902,877 $989,462 na
Evolution
versus past
year 16.08% 8.01% 14.29% 9.59%
(table continues)
95
Revenue from contributions as per IRS Form 990
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Competitor 1
in USD $3,388,500 $3,464,425 $3,597,775 $3,887,875 $4,549,900 $4,720,625
Evolution
versus past
year 2.24% 3.85% 8.06% 17.03% 3.75%
Organization
BC in USD $52,590 $56,052 $33,436 $10,552 $15,364 na
Evolution
versus past
year 6.58% -40.35% -68.44% 45.60% Competitor 2
in USD $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 na
Evolution
versus past
year
Functional expenses: Accounting fees as per IRS Form 990
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Competitor 1
in USD $56,360 $54,814 $52,535 $44,188 $53,343 $45,000
As percentage
of total
revenue 0.37% 0.34% 0.31% 0.26% 0.26% 0.22%
Organization
BC in USD $5,000 $5,250 $5,500 $0 $8,454 na
As percentage
of total
revenue 0.26% 0.25% 0.24% 0.00% 0.35% Competitor 2
in USD $19,761 $21,337 $37,056 $9,816 $8,827 na
As percentage
of total
revenue 2.05% 1.99% 3.17% 0.87% 0.74%
Functional expenses: Advertising & promotion as per IRS Form 990
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Competitor 1
in USD $362,506 $603,712 $693,281 $601,582 $643,723 $564,666
As percentage
of total
Revenue 2.40% 3.76% 4.14% 3.51% 3.12% 2.75%
Organization
BC in USD $5,058 $9,020 $950 $4,060 $42,319 na
As percentage
of total
Revenue 0.26% 0.44% 0.04% 0.17% 1.74% Competitor 2
in USD $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 na
As percentage
of total
revenue 0 0 0 0 0
(table continues)
96
Functional expenses: Information technology expenses as per IRS Form
990
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Competitor 1
in USD $274,374 $327,514 $407,876 $591,530 $1,109,287 $1,565,897
As percentage
of total
revenue 1.82% 2.04% 2.44% 3.45% 5.38% 7.63%
Organization
BC in USD $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 na
As percentage
of total
revenue 0 0 0 0 0 Competitor 2
in USD $11,387 $12,073 $22,877 $19,211 $22,125 na
As percentage
of total
revenue 1.18% 1.13% 1.96% 1.71% 1.85%
When considering the functional expenses, the figures for Competitor 2 show
the highest weight of accounting fees as compared to the total revenues, although
decreasing. Also, Competitor 2 figures show no indication about advertising and
promotional activities. The figures indicate Competitor 1’s leadership in advertising
and promotion spending with annual expense ranging from 2.40% to 4.14%. The
Organization BC’s advertising and promotional expenses have lower weight as part of
the total revenues, ranging from 0.17% to 1.74%. The observation of the higher
advertising and promotional expenses as part of the total revenues of Competitor 1
may lead to the idea of different target levels, as well as to varying approaches to
marketing activities.
Additionally, Competitor 1 figures show a drastic increase in information
technology expenses, achieving almost 8% of total revenues in 2017, which may also
indicate the initiation of a specific information-technology-based project. The figures
for Competitor 2 show some steady engagement in using information technology. The
Organization BC leaders should reconsider the role and further even more intense use
97
of information technology in the future to leverage more compellingly the strengths of
the organization and support the achievement of a well-differentiated perceived
competitive positioning.
Competitiveness changes. The major competitive changes impacting the
entire programmatic accrediting industry involve the potential new regulations
implementation as the result of the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act in the
United States. At the moment of writing the paper, there is no decision about the
suggested changes and there is no indication about a clear time lag of the possible
new regulations’ introduction. If and when implemented, the regulations’ implications
may lead to higher intensity of competition not only at the recruitment stage, but even
once institutions and programs receive accreditation. The new regulations may also
lead to reconsider not only eligibility, but also evaluation criteria and the excellence-
based and quality approaches of all competitors. The willingness of the Congress to
promote innovation and to reduce funding support to some educational institutions
may lead to some contradictory necessities of deploying significant resources by the
accreditors while facing difficulties to invite them from the United States’ institutions
with diminishing financial support. The contradiction may result in the decrease of
sources of financial viability from the United States educational institutions.
Some researchers’ indications about the lack of accreditation awareness
among students and some tangible impact on students’ jobs’ placement and other
significant expectations about the social or public role of accreditation (Bennett et al.,
2015; Doh et al., 2018; Hunt, 2015; McConnell et al., 2016) are another signal to the
Organization BC’s leaders about taking the opportunity to consider a profound
reinvention of the purpose, scope, and possible impacts of accreditation, as well as
98
brand and image building initiatives. Also, Maccoby (2015) and Maccoby and
Scudder (2018) explained the significance of knowledge about social character and
personality types. Social character is culturally different, and changing and the most
critical causes of the change are the ways the most competitive and dynamic
businesses function and how people succeed within these environments which
influences emotions, attitudes, and beliefs (Maccoby & Scudder, 2018). The success
of educational programs may depend on the relationship instructors build with the
students through the teaching processes and course content. Organization BC leaders
can consider facilitating the relationship building with students through guiding
learning and knowledge gathering about social character and cultural differences.
Efforts in sociodemographic and psychographic data about students can complement
foresight and brand definition efforts.
In 2013, Competitor 1 leaders launched an essential initiative about redefining
their role for businesses, management education, and society. Some partial outcomes
of the ongoing initiative are visible from the enlarged Competitor 1 mission about
connecting businesses, students, and more. Competitor 1 leaders move to bind their
future activities to the ISO will provide their organization with a solid international
and reputable positioning, as well as will strengthen their relations with reputable
businesses. The more flexible eligibility principles of Competitor 3 are appealing to
newly established schools and those with reducing financial support and resources.
The changing regulatory environment in the United States, coupled with relative
employment stagnation and low expected immediate business growth should show
grounds to the Organization BC leaders to consider a profound repositioning.
Comparative data. The primary input of comparative data for the
99
Organization BC is the permanent exchange with numerous members spread around
the globe. The Organization BC teams receive and process part of the data through the
self-studies and the answers of the Baldrige-based questions during the evaluation
procedures. The leaders receive another part of the comparative data during regular
annual meetings, conferences, and events, through tailored membership surveys about
a specific topic, as well as through specific surveys from external research service
providers. Analyses of archived e-mail exchanges with the members on specific topics
from the last 5 years are another source of comparative information. The Organization
BC leaders’ strong adherence and integration within the Baldrige community is an
alternative path for gathering comparative data with a larger than education and
accreditation scope.
Strategic context. Table 5 shows a summary of Organization BC’s critical
strategic challenges and advantages. The significant challenges for the organization
relate to an eventual need to change the strategic positioning and direction as a result
from possible regulatory developments implying competition intensification. The key
advantages are the historically strong quality reputation, strong leadership philosophy
articulated around excellence, continuous improvement, and inclusiveness, as well as
the steady growth progress. In response to the regulatory uncertainty, Organization
BC leaders decided to apply a risk-based approach to improve and reorganize their
strategic planning processes and practices.
100
Table 5
Organization BC's Key Strategic Challenges and Advantages
Key strategic
focus area Key strategic challenges Key strategic advantages Business Although consistently performing with
the current organization's mission, the
leaders may face the need to reinvent the
purpose of accreditation and re-orient
their mission and scope of actions
because of United States regulation,
competitive, and social character changes.
The leaders must embrace a consumer-
based business model, reformulate the
value proposition, align the supply chain,
change the students’ role from primary
stakeholder to a primary consumer/user,
and connect with the students.
The Organization BC leaders and
teams are dedicated to excellence-
level accrediting and consistently
deploy their mission through the
Baldrige model, helpful to
continuous improvement. CHEA
recognition is consistent with the
organization's mission.
Operations With the current mission and focus, the
leaders may need to consider reinforcing
some branding and awareness
perspectives of the current website and
other communication means, as well as
the dynamic and more up to date tone and
feel. In case of a mission's overhaul, the
functioning of the system may need
review and adaptation.
The leaders conduct operations
within highly respectful and
valuing diversity member-driven
environment and decision-making
processes. The leaders can rely on
the historically strong quality
reputation of the organization’s
operations.
Societal
responsibilities
In the current context, raising awareness
about the social impact of accrediting
initiatives.
Ensuring quality of business
education is the primary social role
of the Organization BC leaders.
The Enactus partnership, although
not exclusive, is a significant
engagement towards positive social
change, surpassing the scope of
accreditation.
Workforce In pursuing growth and higher impact, the
leaders may need to enlarge specific or all
parts of the permanent teams.
Highly and uniquely skilled
accrediting staff, and passionate
teams about excellence and
improvement. Highly performing
and dedicated president/CEO,
establishing a culture of respect,
collaboration, and inclusiveness,
allowing for innovation, learning,
and continuous improvement.
Active volunteer involvement and
structured interventions are helpful
to the mission's execution.
101
Performance improvement system. Until 2016 the performance
improvement system of Organization BC was inherent in the strategic planning
processes, which involved regular and timely evaluation and monitoring of the
activities based on performance measurement data. Radical changes in legislation can
provoke crisis effects for established operations. Bryson (2018) explained that in
crises situations strategic planning might not be relevant; and to be successful leaders
may need to adapt the process to the organizational situation, context, and consider
different types of participants. Since 2016, Organization BC leaders have put in place
a risk-based approach to detect and address various types of issues. The Board of
Directors established a Risk Assessment and Management Committee. The members
of the committee work with the Accreditation Governance Board, the two Boards of
Commissioners, and the Audit and Bylaws Committees, to detect risks in various
areas potentially impacting the organization’s mission and goals accomplishment, as
well as to elaborate mitigation strategies. The members of the Risk Assessment and
Management Committee evaluate and categorize sets of risks and set up respective
subcommittees. The subcommittees’ members focus on identifying, describing, and
estimating the probability of the risks’ occurrences. The process involves three
orientations, risk assessment, risk management, and risk mitigation, each occurring
with a well-defined frequency and transparent reporting on progress. The risk-based
approach is compliant with the ISO risk definition and is helpful to the mission
achievement to the extent of preventing costs and loss of reputation. However, risk-
based approaches may contain the threat of focusing on clearly identifiable and
internal issues, which may lead to losing foresight, and subsequently growth and
innovation opportunities (Kuosa, 2014). Therefore, and unless otherwise addressed, it
102
is recommendable that the Organization BC leaders consider introducing the risk of
insufficient environmental scanning and foresight, and addressing it with the
appropriate efforts to maintain strategizing and envisioning capacity.
Leadership Triad: Leadership, Strategy, and Customers
Leadership
The leaders of Organization BC have a primary role in guiding the strategic
direction, leading organizational improvement, and effectiveness. The leaders
established a culture of excellence and collaboration, based on mutual respect,
allowing for active input from all members of the organization. The organizational
philosophy and the culture led by human values enable the leaders to achieve a high
level of foresight effectiveness.
Senior leadership. The senior leaders ensure the organization’s mission
accomplishment and successful running of the operations. The leaders also have a
significant role in supplying global organizational data and ensuring the quality of
information and practice. The leaders ensured organization-wide information
gathering processes and a strategic planning output centralized in a small group of
people possessing the required expertise and skills.
Mission, vision, and values. The founders and leaders of Organization BC
established principles of excellence, continuous improvement, and a set of Baldrige-
based values since the creation of the organization. The senior leaders deploy the
vision and values primarily during presentations, training sessions, brochures,
website, and in practicing leadership by example. The leaders start communicating the
values to the workforce since induction through a specially tailored orientation
program. The website and dedicated brochures are the primary tools for deploying the
103
values to suppliers. The organizations’ partnering members can participate in various
events and committees and gain additional understanding and experience of the
Organization BC values. The senior leaders organize values deployment to the
members, their primary customers, and other significant stakeholders during
numerous events taking part throughout the year, as well as through the active
involvement of members in the working processes, decision-making, and
accreditation practices. The leaders demonstrate their commitment to the values
through their ongoing daily activities and at all occasions, they meet and
communicate with internal and external parties.
Ethical behavior and legal compliance are essential to the mission’s
accomplishment and the organization’s legitimacy, public trust, and reputation. The
Organization BC senior leaders dedicate incremental efforts to support the
deployment of ethical and legal behavior throughout the organization. All involved in
accreditation teams participate in dedicated team meetings and team building
activities designed to enhance ethical and legally compliant behavior. The
Organization BC leaders faced unethical behavior from a volunteer only once since
the inception of the organization and engaged the entire organization in initiating
various processes and tools to prevent such behavior happening in the future.
Communication. The organizations’ leaders maintain a highly collaborative
working environment and foster employees’ and members’ active participation. The
employees and the members have the opportunity to request meetings with senior
leaders whenever needed with a previously prepared agenda and suggest the topics of
their interests or concerns. Using e-mail is an alternative for employees and members
104
to face-to-face meetings, and is helpful to reach the senior leaders during busy times
or for more personal matters.
The Organization BC employees maintain the presence of the organization on
the website, social media networks, like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and also
administer their profiles on the networks. The organization is visible online, and the
employees and leaders are also publicly accessible through the webpage coordinates
and social media profiles. Huang and Ku (2016) explained that nonprofit
organizations’ website functions and content are a means to build the desired brand
image. Huang and Ku suggested that nonprofit leaders should associate different types
of information with different dimensions of an image to build the desired brand
image. The information categories include (a) objective and service, (b) operational
management, (c) communication and consultation, (d) online services, and (e)
convenience and contact (Huang & Ku, 2016). The image facets involve (a)
usefulness, (b) dynamism, (c) efficiency, and (d) affect (Huang & Ku, 2016). The
Organization BC website functions correspond to the information categories Huang
and Ku evoked. Organization BC leaders can consider leveraging the image facets
and further bring dynamism and affect, as well as consider developing content adding
focus on such stakeholders as students and public or communities.
Social media platforms, like Twitter, have features that nonprofit leaders can
use to communicate with stakeholders as part of their communication strategy
(Gálvez-Rodríguez et al., 2016). Milde and Yawson (2017) argued that social media
is a valuable instrument for nonprofit organizations to meet social, environmental, and
financial goals, the triple bottom line. Milde and Yawson emphasized the significance
of the careful integration of the social media efforts into the organizations’ mission,
105
and the adverse effect social media may provoke in case of mistaken campaigns.
Milde and Yawson proposed starting with the development of clear guidelines for
social media implementation to fit the organization’s vision. Organizations’ decision-
makers should decide about the level of social media management, the suitable mix
reflecting the types of messages to convey, and the geographic areas to serve (Milde
& Yawson, 2017). Although not costly, social media campaigns are highly time-
consuming and nonprofit leaders should include a cost-benefit analysis to support
their strategic engagement and avoid persistent problems (Milde & Yawson, 2017).
Various privacy, regulatory, theft, and other types of risks may involve, which also
requires consideration (Milde & Yawson, 2017). Milde and Yawson also noted that
younger generations involved easier in text messaging and withdrew from Facebook
utilization, which requires nonprofit leaders to consider mobile communications in
cases of campaign organization. Organization BC leaders can consider including the
development of social media and mobile communications policies and guidelines as
part of the risk assessment and management initiative.
Sundstrom and Levenshus (2017) explored strategies organizations can use to
improve Twitter engagement with online stakeholders. Sundstrom and Levenshus
observed that (a) useful information promoted the companies as thought and industry
leaders in involving in hot topic discussions, (b) social media and online channels
integration supported return visits, and (c) interactivity and message synergy formed
the dialogue, involving exclusive content. Gao (2016) found that nonprofit
organizations did not sufficiently use audio, video, emotional appeals, dialogic, and
interactive features, although employing two-way communication with followers
106
involved. Gao observed that followers’ engagement and communication interactivity
increased when nonprofit organizations used multimedia and interactive components.
Organization BC has a presence on several social media platforms where two-
way communication with followers is possible. Organization BC’s content on social
media relates primarily to current activities, events, and newsletter and is increasingly
accompanied by visual elements, such as pictures or images. The organization’s
leaders can consider enlarging and engaging the online community and the principal
stakeholders through participation in mission-related impactful discussions while
bringing useful information and more emotional video content, and engaging in the
debate.
To communicate changes and decisions to the employees, the senior leaders
prioritize face-to-face communication at team meetings, and sometimes e-mails. In
addition to e-mails and official letters, the leaders inform other stakeholders about
important decisions during regional and annual meetings. The senior leaders also use
team-building exercises to stimulate employees towards high performance. The
principles of respect for people and empowerment which the senior leaders practice as
the leadership philosophy are also leading motivators for employees to dedicate
efforts and focus on serving the organization’s mission and the members.
Mission and organizational performance. The Organization BC senior
leaders create a highly collaborative and engaging environment for the achievement
of the mission by building a comfortable, safe, and family-like atmosphere. To ensure
organizational agility, various team and management meetings help the leaders
receive feedback and information about occurring changes, measure performance
against goals, make informed decisions, prepare immediate reactions to changes or
107
customers’ needs. The most common way of pursuing organizational learning for the
Organization BC leaders is through regular evaluation processes of what they
accomplished. Some of the leaders’ practices supporting workforce learning include
tuition reimbursement.
The team and management meetings are a primary process and tool for
reflecting upon innovative solutions and approaches, as well as for practicing and
educating about intelligent risk taking. The senior leaders build occasions during the
annual regional conferences and workshops to confront employees and workforce
directly with the needs of their members and customers, during which employees
have the opportunity to achieve a greater understanding of their customers’ endeavors
and experiences. The conferences and workshops also show opportunities for personal
relationships development, which additionally fosters customer engagement culture
through personal involvement.
The Organization BC leaders introduced a risk-based approach and processes.
The committees’ members of the Risk Assessment and Management process
identified high priority risk with immediate urgency level in the area of succession
planning. The accomplishment of the organization’s mission directly relates to
specific competencies and skills involving business and teaching experience, as well
as knowledge about the system and practices of educational institutions, quality
management, the Baldrige framework, and accreditation. The members of the
Accreditation Governance Boards, the president/CEO, together with the chair of the
Board of Directors, and the chief accreditation officer directly engage in resolving the
succession planning risk.
108
The Organization BC is a Baldrige-based organization. The senior leaders use
the Baldrige framework to direct the organization towards performance orientation
and continuous improvement. Also, the CHEA recognition and the process of CHEA
assessment linked to maintaining the recognized status are additional tools for
external performance assessment and feedback about possible improvements. The two
Boards of Commissioners, the Board of Directors, and the Accreditation Governance
Board members are directly involved in practices and processes related to
performance evaluation and have the duties to guide continuous improvement. The
senior leaders identify needed actions through brainstorming, strategic planning or
risk assessment and management, as well as through reviewing the Board of
Commissioners’ reports and Board of Commissioners’ evaluating processes. The risk
assessment and management plan is also the process for senior leaders allowing them
to set expectations for organizational performance and guide the creation and
balancing of value for the members and other stakeholders.
The members of the Board of Directors undertake evaluations of their
accountability for the organization’s actions four times per year. The leaders maintain
regular external financial audits and share the financial status at the annual meeting.
Governance and societal responsibilities. To ensure accountability for senior
leaders’ actions, the Organization BC personnel committee members review
President/CEO performance in applying a systematic and structured approach. The
personnel committee members hold meetings regularly, four times per year. Also, the
Board of Directors members evaluate and endorse when needed the President/CEO’s
actions. Senior leaders ensure accountability for strategic plans through the risk
assessment and management committee organized meetings once a quarter. The audit
109
committee members are in charge of ensuring fiscal accountability, and the leaders
maintain external financial audits once per year.
A previously designed person accompanies operational meetings and makes
the minutes which after the meeting become public. The decisions about accredited
programs are also publicly accessible on the Organization BC website, as well as on
the CHEA website. Through transparent and timely communication, the leaders
ensure organizational accountability.
The organization’s bylaws are publicly accessible on the organization’s
website and show the election and nominating procedures. All board members sign a
document to ensure avoiding conflict of interest and respecting confidentiality. The
process enables Organization BC leaders to raise awareness and support ethical
behavior.
To achieve independence and effectiveness of audits, the leaders ensure that
audit committee members change over a specific period. The leaders launch bids for
the external audits and the auditing service provider changes every 3 years. The senior
leaders’ succession planning is part of the risk assessment and management process.
To determine executive compensation, the personnel committee members use
the evaluations to determine compensation. The leaders use the feedback from the
evaluation for professional development purposes. The information from the
evaluations helps Organization BC leaders apply elements of smart motivation.
The Organization BC leaders established a formal complaint process, designed
to address possible issues related to the services and operations. Members can initiate
the formal complaint process directly from the organization’s website. The leaders
also informed the members about the process through the process books.
110
The risk assessment and management process helps leaders to anticipate
societal concerns with the future offerings and operations. The organizations’ leaders
organize surveys to question their members about future services. The information
provided by the members helps to anticipate and handle possible adverse impacts. As
volunteers are an essential part of the organization’s supply chain, the leaders
proactively train volunteers for new services. Additionally, the leaders also practice
environmental friendly attitudes and have built an eco-friendly office, which
demonstrates a commitment about respect of nature and society.
The Organization BC leaders established legal requirements for global
accreditation in the bylaws. Unlike in the United States, many countries’ education
systems are governments’ dependent. Initiating global accreditation means to the
organization’s accrediting team seeking evidence from the respective government that
a specific school has a government license or authorization for granting higher
education degrees. The process shows a commitment to ensure legal compliance and
to prevent from possible involvement in fraudulent behavior of other parties.
The Risk assessment and management process is the critical organization’s
process for addressing all types of risks, including those associated with offerings and
operations. The bylaws of the Organization BC are the primary tool enabling
monitoring of ethical behavior in the governance structure. The process of signing the
conflict of interest and nondisclosure form helps leaders ensure ethical behavior
throughout the organization, as well as while interacting with members, partners,
suppliers, and other stakeholders. A process for monitoring unethical behavior
involves the regular reviews of institutions and programs and other organizations’
websites for inaccurate representations of the Organization BC membership and
111
accreditation. In case of a breach of ethical behavior, the persons in charge at the
Organization BC contact the individuals and address an official reminder of ethical
behavior. Additional monitoring mechanisms are the bylaws dispositions, the
accreditation evaluators’ feedback form, and the evaluation report from the site visits.
Depending on the weight of the breach, the Organization BC people in charge may
decide to either conduct a supplemental training or eliminate the option of
collaboration with the respective individuals.
The Organization BC leaders stimulate quarterly volunteering activities for
community service from all team members. The leaders offer every employee the
option to benefit from three paid days for volunteering activities per year. The leaders
identified colleges, schools, the city and location of the headquarters, as the key
communities, and offer training, workshops, conferences, and meetings leveraging the
organization’s core competencies.
Strategy
The leaders of Organization BC engage in ensuring the guidance of strategy.
Effective processes combined with an organizational culture of excellence and respect
enable the leaders to ensure active foresight contribution. The leaders also exercise
caution about ensuring the consistency between strategy and mission.
Strategy development. The possible changes in the regulatory environment
showed the need for Organization BC leaders to consider a risk-based approach in the
strategy development process. The leaders ensure gathering all relevant input from a
variety of sources to strengthen foresight and envisioning. The combination of
effective processes and trustful organizational culture help the leaders ensure
innovation capacity.
112
Strategic planning process. The Organization BC leaders decided to replace
the strategic planning process with the risk assessment and management process to
better fit the competitive context, adapt the organization’s needs, and improve. The
leaders initiate the process by organizing a teleconference, and face to face meetings
with the risk assessment and management committee members. The committee
members schedule the meetings in a way to be able to produce a complete report and
present it at the Board of Directors’ meeting for endorsing future actions. The most
critical participants in the risk assessment and management committee are staff
members, volunteers, and public members of the Board of Directors. The committee
members categorize the level of urgency for tackling the identified risks from 1- to 3-
year period, easily detectable from an appropriately designed table.
Through the risk assessment and management process, the leaders address the
need for changes in four areas, finance, operations, accreditation, and legal.
Organization BC leaders ensure considering the contextual challenges in the data
collection process in diversifying the data collection approaches to address regional,
national, and global initiatives. Rich exchanges with experts who also serve other
organizations are part of the data gathering and analysis processes which is in line
with Maccoby’s (2015) recommendation about developing foresight as part of the
strategic intelligence approach. The risk assessment and management processes
comprise formal and informal holistic risk-oriented environmental scanning-like
approach with elements of opportunities and threats, and strengths and weaknesses
assessment as part of the risk’s identification process. These approaches are part of
the most popular and well-established in the literature foresight methods and tools.
Organization BC leaders ensured that a systems approach is embedded into the
113
process in connecting all functional areas of the organization, which aligns with the
visioning with systems thinking component of Maccoby’s (2015) strategic
intelligence. The leaders achieve foresight effectiveness through the regularity of the
process as risks reviews are on-going, as well as through the transparency and
regularity of the results’ communication. Within the vision implementation
component of strategic intelligence Maccoby (2015) highlighted the significance of
continuity of interactive planning. Organization BC leaders’ foresight effectiveness
approach exemplifies continuity.
The leaders achieve several other facets of foresight effectiveness.
Organization BC leaders prod broad involvement of members’ input helpful to
achieve a variety of perspectives and stimulate the use of performance data. The data
gathering and analysis process is decentralized and interactive, allowing for a variety
of viewpoints helpful to detect and evaluate strategic opportunities, as well as global
trends. These facets relate to Maccoby’s interactive planning as part of the visioning
component, as well as to the foresight, engaging and motivating, and partnering
elements. Through encouraging members’ willingness to participate, the leaders also
ensure strategic planning effectiveness. The collective approach is dominant in the
analyses’ execution. The leaders ensure the quality of information through the breadth
and depth of data from large-base surveys. Additionally, the leaders seek accuracy of
information through experts’ evaluation of data gathering instruments. The
participants in the process warrant accuracy of understanding through triangulation.
Innovation. Trustful organizational culture is at the heart of Maccoby’s (2015)
view about leadership philosophy. Maccoby established a direct link between
leadership philosophy and innovation and cooperation, which becomes operational
114
through organizational purpose, values, and aligned results measurements. All
participants in the study referred to their trust in leadership, as well as to the role of
the home office and the leaders for supplying global organizational data and
establishing a climate of collaboration and respect. The participants expressed
confidence in the role of leadership in setting the global organizational strategic
direction and values-based culture in ensuring the quality of information and practice.
Participant 3 defined the organizational culture as one of “inclusiveness.” Participant
7 expressed assurance in the role of leadership in leading organizational improvement
and effectiveness.
Organization BC leaders and staff members detect strategic opportunities also
through focused weekly Internet searches. Once the information gathered, the staff
members, through discussions and consultations with members and experts, identify
the opportunities of potential strategic interest and, depending on the type, operational
or accreditation, present them to the executive committee members or the
accreditation governance board respectively. A recent strategic opportunity which the
staff members discerned and the executive committee members endorsed is
accrediting certificates. At the time of writing, Organization BC is the unique
accreditor to offer the new service of certificates’ accreditation. The innovation is also
the result of the dominant culture of collaboration, respect, and focus on the members’
needs. The new service has the potential to appeal to a large segment of users and
help position Organization BC as an industry leader in conveying a result of learning,
continuous improvement, and excellence drive.
Strategy considerations. Strategic planning effectiveness depends on the
leaders’ commitment and skills, but also on the participants’ type, expertise, and
115
willingness to cooperate (Bryson, 2018; Chen, 2017). As the prolongation of the data
gathering and analyses processes, Organization BC leaders centralized the strategic
planning output within a small group of people with the required expertise and skills.
The leaders practice an in-house process with a centralized output part, but balance
with extensive involvement of members’ perspectives in the data gathering and
analyses stage, as well as targeted external sources’ inclusion. Including external
parties is part of an open intelligence approach.
The organization’s leaders established the risk assessment and management
initiative with the aim to reflect upon various types of organizational risks and
leverage the ability to address strategic challenges. Among other topics, the leaders
gather information about the potential upcoming significant changes in the regulatory
environment of accreditation from the official news and announcements about the
Higher Education Act and the negotiated rule-making process. By involving external
sources, the leaders detect potential missing information of strategic importance. To
balance the ability to execute the strategic plans, the leaders assign objectives to
different people for developing the action plans.
The leaders may also need to initiate reflecting on the strategic advantages of
the organization. In the context of the present organizational mission, the leaders may
wish to attract more public attention to initiatives directly positively impacting society
and some of the stakeholders. The leaders may develop additional or new
communication and marketing strategy axes and start executing them from an
eventual website overhaul combined with targeted social media campaigns, in line
with the most recent innovation and its possible connection with some global social
causes.
116
Work systems and core competencies. The leaders decide with a team of
experts about which key processes the team will accomplish and which external
suppliers and partners will provide. The members of the team of experts identify who
will be working on the process, staff, volunteers, or suppliers. The leaders and experts
use competencies assessment process to assist them in the decision.
Accreditation, administration, marketing, information systems, membership,
accounting, and human resources are the critical organization’s work systems. To
strengthen the focus of the teams around the mission’s accomplishment and to
optimize resources, the leaders decided to externalize some of the functions. The
leaders determine the needs for future organizational core competencies and work
systems through the strategic planning/risk assessment and management process
while considering growth and development targets.
Strategic objectives. Organization BC leaders’ aligned the strategy-related
processes with the organization’s vision. The leaders placed a specific focus on
dealing with the organization’s risk-associated strategic challenges to reflect the
changing operating environment and develop the strategic objectives. The leaders
instilled a culture of inclusiveness based on human values and excellence, which
enables them to balance the risk-related orientation with strong foresight effectiveness
processes necessary for envisioning.
Key strategic objectives. The risk assessment and management plan contains
the primary strategic objectives, as well as their priority in terms of impact and time.
The leaders established a list of the most urgent/significant risks which the
organization’s teams’ members need to address within 1 year. The introduction of the
new offering, accrediting certificates, does not lead to accompanying changes in the
117
current products, customers and markets, suppliers and partners, and operations.
Strategic objective considerations. Using the four pillars of the risk
assessment and management plan helps leaders achieve appropriate balance among
varying and potentially competing organizational needs while setting the strategic
objectives. The leaders also use the risk assessment and management plan to balance
short- and mid-term planning horizons, as well as consider the needs of some key
stakeholders. The leaders may need to include the use of long-term opportunities and
strategic advantages assessment.
Strategy implementation. Organization BC leaders ensure implementing the
organizational strategy through the development of corresponding action plans. The
leaders assign the tasks consistently and according to the workforce’s and members’
competencies and skills. The leaders engage with improving performance through
performance measurement practices and a culture of excellence and respect.
Action plan development and deployment. The organization’s short and
longer-term action plans are under development at the time of writing the paper and
the leaders will ensure reflecting the strategic objectives as per the risk management
and assessment priorities. The leaders receive support for the development of the
action plans by experts who have skills and knowledge to accomplish the breakdown.
The leaders deploy the action plans at the committee meetings and board
meetings. The leaders deploy the action plans to the workforce at staff meetings,
while to key suppliers and partner through signing appropriate agreements and
contracts. The organization’s philosophy about continuous process improvement is
the tool for the leaders to ensure conserving the action plan achievements. The leaders
use the annual budgeting process to ensure that financial and other resources are
118
available both to support the achievement the action plans and meet current
obligations. The annual budgeting process also shows support to the leaders to
allocate the necessary resources to support the plans.
The leaders proceed to 2-phase workforce planning to support strategic
objectives and action plans. The first phase the leaders dedicate to planning the staff
and the second to plans related to the volunteers’ involvement. The leaders deploy the
plans through communication and training.
The leaders use key performance measures or indicators to track the achieve-
ment and effectiveness of action plans. Some of the metrics are the organization’s
budget, new members recruited and memberships dropped, programs accredited,
website and social media analytics. The leaders communicate the key performance
measures to support organizational alignment. Some of the performance projections
include a growth target of 3% in the short-term and an increase in the number of cash
flow streams in the long-term. The leaders have a strong will to continue the
organization’s growth and surpass their competitors in the long-run. In case leaders
decide on the need of action plan’s modification, they organize meetings and talk
about the action plans and objectives, identify progress, then modify, deploy, and
rework.
Customers
Voice of the customer. The Organization BC leaders use e-mail, telephone,
surveys, and evaluations are the primary methods to listen to the customers. For
accreditation, the evaluations are the most significant tool to gather structured input
and differentiate the segments. The leaders use surveys to gather input from the
119
members of conferences, and telephone and e-mail for all members on a regular basis.
The boards’ meeting minutes and face-to-face meetings are other tools to gather input.
The Organization BC leaders use social media and web-based technologies to
listen to customers as well. The leaders designed a person whose primary task is to
maintain a presence and interactive communication through Facebook, Twitter, the
website, and blogs. Evaluations and surveys are the major tools and processes for
gathering immediate and actionable feedback from customers on the quality of the
offerings and membership support.
The leaders use e-mail to gather input and invite potential customers to attend
one of the 13 conferences per year for free. Having the potential customers at the
conferences is the occasion for the leaders to gather direct input. Former members fill
in an exit survey which is a tool the leaders use to detect new services’ opportunities
or evolving customers’ need. The differentiated methods the leaders use to gather
segmented input also help them identify members’ satisfaction. The leaders consider
the measurement results from the gathered input to determine areas of improvement
and potential to exceed members’ expectations. As some of the Organization BC
members have accreditations from competitors, the leaders benefit from direct
comparative information sharing.
Customer engagement. The Organization BC leaders determine customer
and market needs and requirements for product offerings and services through higher
education industry research and professional organizations’ activities like the ones of
the National Association State Board of Accountancy (NASBA). NASBA leaders set
up new rules of accounting programs accreditation. Following NASBA changes, the
Organization BC leaders developed new accreditation procedures to meet the new
120
rules for their members. A new offering which the leaders developed to meet the
demand and exceed the expectations of the members and employers, is the
accreditation of certificates starting in 2019. Both the accounting programs and the
certificates accreditations are examples of the organization’s capacity to enter new
markets, attract new customers, and expand relationships with existing members.
The Organization BC leaders ensured the availability of online tools, like the
online reporting portal, as well as the accessibility of all supporting documents and
information to enable the members to prepare and enter the accreditation process. The
leaders also provide mentoring process, training, workshops, and seminars to support
members and exchange with them further. The leaders deliver differentiated support
offering training designed to volunteers and training designed for members. Boards’
members also benefit from specially tailored workshops.
The organization’s leaders use higher education classifications to identify
current and anticipate future customer groups and market segments. The classification
includes such categories as (a) public, (b) private, (c) for-profit, (d) nonprofit, (e)
state-based institutions, delivering (f) associate degree, and (g) baccalaureate degree.
Organization BC leaders use the same classification to identify competitors’
customers and segments. The members’ traveling and teaching experiences in various
parts of the world are essential for gathering information about which customer or
market segments to pursue for business growth. Although the classification perfectly
aligns with the organization’s current mission and focus on members, some additional
different perspectives for segmenting may bring new growth opportunities. The
leaders may work on using some leading employers’ and students’ perspectives, for
instance.
121
The primary method for building relationships with the members is
communication and face-to-face meetings during the 12 or 13 annual conferences.
The leaders hired consultants to advise about image building, use social media, as
well as encourage their members to use the logo appropriately, to build brand image.
To retain members, meet their requirements, and exceed expectations in each
stage of the customer life cycle, the leaders use differentiated communications,
members’ feedback, and the annual surveys for candidacy from conferences. To
enhance the members’ engagement with the Organization BC, the leaders use
promotional materials, information to volunteers about how to get involved, as well as
leverage online presence through the website and social media. As the webpage is the
leading brand communication tool, the leader may need to enhance the content in at
least two directions. First, a more dynamic style with impactful immediate visual
content may help provide latest technological alignment look. Also, the leaders should
think about adding an appropriate emotionally engaging content, inspiring to students
and other stakeholders, and energizing, as the first online impression. Next, the
leaders need to transform the webpage in a way to leverage the organization’s
strategic strengths and advantages.
The Organization BC leaders have well-established processes, formal and
informal, to manage complaints. The leaders also established two appeal processes
allowing members to engage with them in cases of accreditation withdrawal. In case
of a complaint, the leaders are ready and open-minded to learn from the complaint
and try to prevent it happens in the future.
122
Results Triad: Workforce, Operations, and Results
Workforce
The leaders of Organization BC build a working environment enabling
continuous improvement through articulating an organizational culture of excellence
and human values. Various workforce-related performance measurement processes
help the leaders apply smart motivation techniques. The leaders develop workforce
policies and processes consistent with the mission’s execution.
Workforce environment. The Organization BC senior leaders established a
resource planning process to assess the needed skills, competencies, certifications,
and staffing levels. The resources planning process results in a document, and the
deployment of the process is under the responsibility of a dedicated director and her
team. An additional axis of permanent evaluation of the match between the needed
skills and competencies is the tasks progress evaluation during the regular staff
meetings.
Maintaining a constant level of diversity among permanent employees, board
of directors, and volunteers is part of the Organization BC strategy. The directors of
the board in the last few years, for instance, had French, Canadian, and Columbian
nationalities. Volunteers from various parts of the worlds, like India and the
Dominican Republic for example, where the leaders install operations, contribute to
the accreditation processes. The senior leaders devote continuous efforts to protect the
diversity balance they achieved at any moment, but especially at positions’ openings,
as diversity may influence organizational performance.
To ensure adequacy between new workforce members and the organizational
culture, the senior leaders established a process involving the use of such personality
123
assessment tools as the dominance, influence, steadiness, and conscientiousness
(DISC) and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The senior leaders collaborate
with a human resources consultant to ensure the accurate use of the instruments and to
accomplish the hiring interviews process.
The Organization BC senior leaders faced situations of both workforce
reductions and growth. To manage their employees and the impact of the necessary
reductions, the leaders engage in team building activities. The preparation for
workforce growth involves planning and engaging in training. The senior leaders
discuss and announce organizational structure changes at team and board meetings.
Specific communication and training are some additional means to prepare and share
workforce reductions and growth.
As per the 2017-2018 Baldrige Framework, in certain situations, leaders may
need to address changes in the external environment, culture, and strategy, implying
workforce management and organization. The evaluation process, which involves
verbal communication, monthly meetings, and written annual feedback, is helpful to
the Organization BC senior leaders to organize and manage the workforce to
accomplish the assigned tasks as per organization’s core competencies, strengthen
members focus, and strive to exceed performance expectations.
Workforce climate. The Organization BC leaders ensure offering convenient,
healthy, and secure workspace. All employees take safety training to maintain
knowledge about required behavior in moments of risk. The senior leaders set goals
for improving the workplace environment such as buying more space and building
more offices aiming to support future growth. The related performance measures are
consistent across different workplace environments.
124
The Organization BC leaders support their workforce by providing various
benefits. The leaders allowed practicing flexible work schedules to meet the needs of
a diverse workforce. To facilitate work engagement by various work groups, the
leaders developed the policies and procedures handbook. The leaders offer such
benefits to the employees as medical vacation, retirement savings, dental and eye
insurance, and life insurance.
Workforce engagement. The Organization BC senior leaders maintain an
environment of open communication and foster workforce diverse ideas, cultures, and
thinking during team and management meetings. The leaders empower their
employees through delegation and determine the key engagement drivers through
communication during team meetings.
The leaders practice both formal and informal assessment methods to
determine workforce engagement and satisfaction. The formal part involves the
employee evaluation process starting with a self-survey of ten questions. Once the
survey completed, the employee sends it to his/her superior for consideration. The
next stage in the process is an open face-to-face discussion. Also, the leaders take the
occasion of the monthly progress follow-up meetings to exchange with their teams
and evaluate engagement and satisfaction openly. The Organization BC leaders
privilege direct discussions with their team members to identify and fix timely any
arising issues.
The Organization BC leaders share the understanding of the nonprofit nature
of their activities as a laying foundation of the organization and exclude typical
business incentives and related compensations as part of the workforce performance
management system. To foster innovation, ensure intelligent risk-taking, members
125
focus, and action plans execution the leaders deploy the risk assessment and
management process.
Workforce and leader development. Through the formal and informal
methods the Organization BC leaders employ for identifying employees’ competency
and training needs, the leaders address the organization’s core competencies, strategic
challenges, and action plans achievement. An example of an area of the action plan
achievement is an employee’s project management training, sharing of the acquired
knowledge with persons from other departments, and deploying the use of a project
management software for enhanced member service in the field of events organization
and marketing.
Excellence and continuous improvement, innovation, and creativity are some
of the organization’s core values. During various team and board meetings, the
participants focus on continuous process improvement. The leaders ensure that
together with the participants, they maintain a working atmosphere supporting
innovation and creativity.
Before volunteers engage in school evaluations, board members step into their
duties, and employees start working, all of them commit and sign a conflict of interest
and non-disclosure document. With this process of informing, training, and
committing to ethical behavior, the leaders ensure ethically engaged workforce. All
activities of the Organization BC are dedicated to quality and continuous
improvement of the services the members receive. The Organization BC leaders
established processes for regular member surveys. Additionally, the occasions of
members evaluations, site visits, conferences, and meetings show multiple
opportunities to the leaders for enhancing member focus.
126
The senior leaders formally consider the learning and development desires of
workforce members through the evaluation process. Training is the primary method to
make employees acquire new specific knowledge and skills. The leaders ensure that
employees share newly acquired knowledge and skills with persons from other
departments inside the organization. Career development and succession planning are
part of the evaluation and risk assessment and management processes.
Operations
The leaders of Organization BC ensure excellence in accrediting operations
through highly standardized criteria and processes. The leaders set for active feedback
provision from members and stakeholders. The leaders also engage in transparent and
active communication throughout the organization and reliable innovation
management processes, which contributes to operational efficiency.
Work processes. The Organization BC operates with four boards. The boards’
members and staff determine the key services and work process requirements. The
key work processes relate to accreditation, marketing, administration, technology, and
membership services and management. The key requirements for accreditation work
processes involve using the policies and procedures as established within the
organization to accredit business programs. For marketing, the key requirements
relate to building and further enhancing the awareness about the significance of
accreditation. The organization’s leaders require accurate financial and human
resources management, and proper hard and software maintenance. As excellence and
continuous improvement are foundational for the organization’s philosophy, in the
area of membership services and management, the leaders established a culture of
127
striving to exceed members’ needs. The critical requirements of the related work
process reflect the strategic imperative of excellence and continuous improvement.
The senior leaders design the organization’s services and work processes to
meet requirements during the risk assessment and management process. As part of the
strategic planning or risk assessment and management effort, the leaders created the
idea and initiated the implementation of the online reporting portal. The online portal
was helpful to achieve improvement in membership services, but the leaders also use
the technology to propel and share knowledge across the organization. The
information from the online reporting portal applies to consider further improvements
or share acquired knowledge at meetings, training sessions, conferences, and
seminars.
A significant part of the organization’s services involves strong
communication with the members. The leaders maintain all types of communication
active and invite for formal and informal feedback at all types of events, as well as at
any other moment. The open and interactive relationship supported by new
technology and the risk assessment and management process reflects the purposeful
desire of the Organization BC leaders to incorporate organizational knowledge,
product excellence, consideration of risk, and the potential need for agility into the
organization’s services and processes.
Process management and improvement. The Organization BC leaders use
feedback evaluation forms to ensure the daily activities meet key process
requirements. The feedback evaluation forms are useful to the leaders also as an
indicator to improve work processes and introduce changes in operations.
128
The board members and staff determine the organization’s key support
processes. The leaders consider part of the human resources and information
technology processes as supporting. The leaders ensure the supporting processes meet
the essential organizational requirements through actively soliciting feedback from
the members and sharing improvement opportunities with the related suppliers. The
leaders achieved a considerable database improvement in applying the feedback-
opportunity approach.
The leaders improve work processes with the aim to improve services and
performance, enhance core competencies, and reduce variability at the performance
review and boards’ meetings. The performance review and board meetings take place
annually.
Innovation management. The organization’s leaders set up processes for
pursuing innovation opportunities. The boards’ members and staff are responsible for
identifying opportunities for innovation. Once the opportunities identified and agreed,
the team members develop and implement. A recent innovation which came out of
this process is the implementation of certification accreditation. The new opportunity
implementation started in July 2018. From January 2019, the leaders deployed
another strategic opportunity, updated accreditation standards and criteria, which they
evaluated as intelligent risk. Additionally, within and beyond already accredited
programs, the leaders are implementing an accreditation plus program which will help
differentiate among three accredited levels. The leaders use the annual budgeting
process to ensure financial and other resources are available to pursue the new
opportunities.
129
During performance reviews the leaders evaluate the contribution, status, and
functioning of an identified and implemented opportunity. In case the opportunity’s
contribution is not in line with the expectations, beyond capacity, capability, and
process adjustment, the leaders proceed to terminating its implementation. An
implemented accelerated accreditation program showed constant underperformance
for 3 years and the leaders decided to delist the offering from the services catalog.
Operational effectiveness. The Organization BC leaders control the overall
costs of the operations through budget compliance. The leaders evaluate significant
actions efficiency and effectiveness and look for improvements. With a recent
implementation of a newly designed technological feature in the reporting database,
and after multiple tests and upgrades, the leaders achieved 67% improvement of the
time needed to generate and send a written communication to the program directors of
programs undergoing accreditation.
Developing written communication to members is a significant part of the
organization’s team activities. The leaders deployed the use of specific editing tools to
prevent from writing mistakes and reduce rework. The leaders established processes
and procedures, detailed in the travel and reimbursement policy, to minimize site visit
costs. The volunteers engage in program evaluations and site visits. With the aim to
control costs, the leaders established a volunteers selection criterium related to the
volunteer’s geographical location, among other criteria. With the introduction of the
geographic location criterium, the leaders can balance the need for cost control and
the need for high-quality service of the members.
Management of information systems. To ensure the reliability of the
organization’s information systems, the leaders organized auditing procedures.
130
Triangulating the information the team members receive and process is an additional
approach to enhance reliability. The leaders posited for an offsite information back-up
to secure the working data availability and accessibility further.
The leaders ensure the security and cybersecurity of sensitive or privileged
data and information through a virtual private network (VPN) and password access.
Every person using the information system changes passwords periodically. People
access the offices with an entry system code. The leaders also posited for offices
protection with an alarm system requiring access with a code. Confidentiality and
appropriate access to data and information are ensured with individual passwords and
lock and key drawers.
A fulltime information technologies (IT) professional is part of the
Organization BC team. Among his responsibilities is the duty to maintain awareness
of emerging security and cybersecurity threats. The IT professional updates the
system’s firewalls, maintains the necessary security access, and ensures regular
backups, with the aim to detect, respond, and ensure recovery from cybersecurity
breaches.
Safety and emergency preparedness. The Organization BC leaders provide a
safe operating environment by engaging the workforce about safety with the policy
and procedures manual. The part of the manual dedicated to employees shows safety
rules and behavior and is supportive of establishing a safe environment. Dedicated
training and exercise are part of the safety requirements. The teams’ members
exercise fire and tornado drills, and the building is accessible through a secured
system. To prevent accidents, the leaders ensure fire detectors and fire bottles
inspections. The team members participate in accident prevention sessions and
131
meetings. The leaders also developed emergency procedures and training to ensure
the organization is prepared for a disaster or other emergencies.
The leaders look after involving the workforce in the disaster and emergency
preparedness system. To prevent, the leaders ensure inspections, training, and
exercise, as they consider that continuity of operations and recovery consist of having
all persons safe and back-up data and information. Through the offsite back-up, the
leaders ensure that information technology systems continue to be secure and
available to serve members’ needs.
Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management
Organization BC leaders established various processes to achieve a consistent
and complete selection, gathering, analysis, and improvement of data, information,
and knowledge. The evaluation and performance measurement processes enable the
leaders to support continuous improvement. The organizational culture is helpful to
learning.
Measurement, analysis, and improvement of organizational performance.
The Organization BC leaders organized data collection to track daily operations and
overall organizational performance per segments. The team members track
information for operations for membership, accreditation, finance, and so forth. For
membership and membership services, for instance, the data and information the
leaders decided to follow, combine financial figures from external and internal audits,
marketing indicators gathered through the online reporting portal and conferences’
surveys, and online analytics for social media accounts and websites. The leaders
considered specific indicators for accreditation coming from particular surveys and
processed in various files, tables, and graphs.
132
Tracking progress on achieving strategic objectives and action plans happens
through the risk assessment and management process. The process involves making
phone calls on a regular basis, developing action plans with measurable achievements,
and reporting the performance indicators.
The Organization BC leaders set various performance measures to track the
development of the organization’s major activity and benchmark with competitors.
The leaders also set budget-related short-term financial performance measures, as
well as longer-term financial measures related to increasing the reserve funds by 2020
with a precise amount. The leaders put on place a process book on financial
management containing specific time-bound goals, as well as rules to ensure ethical
auditing. The leaders track financial measures once per year.
The two major competitors of the Organization BC, although with almost
equivalent services, show performance results ranging either far above or far below.
The Organization BC leaders, however, track competitors on a regular basis and
adjust strategy as necessary to enhance positioning and differentiation.
The leaders have categorized members in various segments and select voice-
of-the-customer and market data accordingly. Through the Internet, conferences
surveys, and the other formal and informal feedback and complaint processes, the
leaders ensured organizing the information about higher education, colleges and
universities, faculty, and higher education subscriptions. The leaders make decisions
once the reliable data have processed and analyzed.
Performance analysis and review. The leaders use key organizational
performance measures, as well as comparative and customer data, during the budget
133
reviews and annual budgeting. The leaders decide about programs or other actions
adjustments in cases where items are under or above budget. The adjustments happen
at the programs or organizational level to ensure the global organizational balance.
A part of the feedback sources resides with the experience and reporting of
volunteers during site visits. Site visits are a major opportunity for valuable exchanges
between the Organization BC and the school program teams. The direct contact
during site visits is an opportunity to build, convey, and defend image and reputation.
Beyond programs assessment, the senior leaders consider the volunteers’ behavior
during site visits as critical to the organization’s success. Volunteers execute
approximately 300 site visits per year and report on the performance of other
volunteers of their teams. The leaders consider the volunteers feedback for
improvement purposes like plan training on various aspects of the assessment, ethical
behavior, and communication. Also, the leaders reserve the right not to use the
volunteers’ services in the future in case of disrespect of the standards and procedures.
The leaders follow volunteers’ feedback on a regular basis and decide about necessary
adjustments during performance reviews. Cross-referencing or verifying the
information from other users is a method the leaders use to ensure the conclusions are
valid.
The members of the board of directors review performance measurement data
twice a year and evaluate progress in all organizational areas on achieving the
strategic objectives and action plans. The board members communicate to the
president/CEO their recommendations for changes, additions, improvements,
delisting, and so forth. The president/CEO communicates the information from the
134
board to the staff for implementation. In case of need to respond quickly to changes in
the operating environment, the executive committee members have the responsibility
to gather quickly. The executive committee members have the authority from the
board of directors to decide and ensure the implementation of urgent changes.
Performance improvement. Houck (2017) emphasized the need for nonprofit
leaders to orient the strategy towards performance. The leaders’ capacity to use
performance information is the result from self-efficacy, receptivity to feedback and
valuing employees’ input, as well as from the sensitivity to the external environment
(Johansen et al., 2018). The participants of the study shared insights about the role of
information related to expertise, experience, intuition, and social context in relation to
the strategic planning initiatives. Also, the participants pointed at the practices of
large base input gathering and the leaders’ willingness to listen to feedback and
collaborate. Organization BC leaders opted for implementing the Baldrige education
version as a management system. The leaders ensure performance improvement
through combining excellence framework with learning and maintaining a human
dimension, which is in line with the findings and recommendations of Pirozzi and
Ferulano (2016); and Vakharia et al. (2018).
The process involves the leaders using the findings from the performance
reviews, competitive, and comparative data to plan for future activities, adjustments,
or changes. Besides adjusting the strategic objectives, the leaders use the findings to
project for membership growth, accreditations activities, to plan for the needed
volunteers, and other organizational activities. In case of discrepancies between
desired and projected objectives, the leaders use additional sources to cross-reference
135
the data and communicate with functional experts, part of the members but external to
staff.
The leaders also analyze the findings from the performance reviews to detect
opportunities for improvement, growth potential, and innovation. The leaders decided
upon, and the teams introduced a process improvement based on a technological
innovation following a review of performance indicators of operational efficiency.
The approach was lean-based and resulted in a drastic decrease in staff time waste.
To deploy the identified opportunities, the president/CEO communicates the
information from the board of directors to the staff, the other boards, and to the
committees. The organization operates with 10 to 12 committees, each dedicated to
focusing on a specific aspect of the organizational activities, such as marketing,
membership, and so forth. The president/CEO informs the respective committees
about the decisions for implementation of the improvements. Once a quarter, the team
members communicate via e-mail to the 13,000 individual members the ideas of
innovation, changes, as well as data and information.
Information and knowledge management. Learning and knowledge are
central to the success of nonprofit organizations (Baba, 2015; Pirozzi & Ferulano,
2016; Vakharia et al., 2018). The leaders of Organization BC ensured the
establishment of organizational culture and processes helpful to convey learning.
During the interviews, the participants shared insights about knowledge and learning
processes and pointed to the organizational culture based on the value of continuous
improvement. Continuous improvement is a concept which the Organization BC
leaders integrated into the strategic planning process relying on the Baldrige
136
excellence model. The leaders use the learning and the knowledge management
outcomes to improve performance and address process and structural adjustments.
Through a strategy of balance between knowledge exploration and knowledge
exploitation embedded in strategic planning and decision-making efforts, the leaders
achieve consistency in policies and structures. The study participants shared insights
from their strategic planning experiences related to knowledge-centricity expressed as
collecting, managing, and using the data strategically.
The leaders ensure the quality of organizational data and information through
cross-referencing, evaluation, validation, and verification with other sources.
Categorized information from Internet searches, verification, and analyses as part of
the daily tasks of teams and regular interactions with members help leaders to manage
electronic and other information, as well as to ensure validity, reliability, and
currency. To ensure security, the leaders set for personalized and protected electronic
accesses to the organizational system and information.
The organization’s data and information are available in electronic format and
hard copies. The leaders ensured that the latest user-friendly technological
advancements are available for use across the organization. The leaders privilege the
use of such electronic tools as e-mails, Dropbox, and GoToMeeting, to ensure sharing
and accessibility of data and information promptly.
Organizational knowledge. To collect and transfer workforce knowledge, the
leaders use the operations manuals, policies and procedures book, and standards and
criteria manual. Blending data from research, members’ information, and members’
research is helpful for the leaders to ensure building new knowledge. The leaders
137
facilitate sharing of new knowledge from and to members, partners, and workforce
through electronic means and traditional communication.
Regular team meetings and minutes on performance measurement reviews
help leaders generate and detect knowledge useful for innovation and strategic
planning purposes. The mechanism the leaders use to transfer innovation and strategic
planning knowledge is the process and procedure books, and standards and criteria
books updates.
The members can share best practices on the Organization BC website.
Through evaluations, monthly written and verbal communication, and awards
winning activities, the leaders identify high-performing operations. At the annual
conference, the boards of commissioners’ members request presenting the best
practices, which enables sharing of knowledge and improvement opportunities at
large scale.
The 12 conferences per year, which the Organization BC leaders and staff
organize, are the most learning-intense moments for both the organization’s members
and leaders. Each conference has what leaders call concurrent educational tracks or
training sessions. At the sessions, the members can learn and share about best
practices, organizational policies, procedures, and operations. The training process
helps the leaders provide opportunities to embed learning into the members’
operations.
Collection, Analysis, and Preparation of Results
Product and Process Results
The Organization BC results are mission-based, and the primary indicators of
the performance of the mission-related core services are the ones related to the
138
accredited members. The evolution of accredited members shows a positive trend, and
the pool of programs to accredit is also growing (see Figures 4 and 5).
Figure 4. Evolution of accredited members. Source: Organization BC. Reproduced
with permission.
Figure 5. Evolution of accredited programs. Source: Organization BC. Reproduced
with permission.
Although the size and scope of Competitor 1 are much larger, the
Organization BC leaders compare and benchmark results against these of Competitor
134
695
0
200
400
600
800
1989 2017
ORGANIZATION BC EDUCATIONAL MEMBER INSTITUTIONS BY YEAR
37
51
14
26
40
23
1014
10 9 8
24
1512 12
24
17
2825
39
31 3234
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
19
94
19
95
19
96
19
97
19
98
19
99
20
00
20
01
20
02
20
03
20
04
20
05
20
06
20
07
20
08
20
09
20
10
20
11
20
12
20
13
20
14
20
15
20
16
Organization BC Programs Accredited by Number of Institutions and Year.
139
1. As illustrated in Figure 6, the trend of both competitors regarding new educational
members acquisition is comparable and favorable. The comparability of the trends
between the two competitors is a signal for the effectiveness of Organization BC
mission-related operational processes and the compelling services.
Figure 6. Comparison of new educational members acquisition. Source: Organization
BC. Reproduced with permission.
Organization BC leaders measure the level of returning schools and compare it
to the leading competitor. The results related to returning schools, or reaffirmation
rate, are also positive, although Competitor 1 results show faster scaling. Figures 6
and 7 feature the indicators the leaders follow to measure process effectiveness as
productivity and cycle time and to benchmark with competitors.
3540
25
14 16
25 23 26 27 3038
32
55 5650
56
28
55
37
6659
71
00
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
New Educational Members
Organization BC Competitor 1
140
Figure 7. Comparison of returning schools. Source: Organization BC. Reproduced
with permission.
Organization BC leaders follow safety and emergency preparedness
indicators. The key measures of the effectiveness of the organization’s safety system
and its preparedness are the number of times of emergency preparedness training and
exercise, and the level of the employees’ preparedness. The leaders put in place the
emergency preparedness training and exercise in 2011 and are ensuring it is taking
place once per year. The results indicate that all employees have the necessary
knowledge to react appropriately in case of emergency.
The leaders consider supply-chain management results as very positive as
well. A primary supplier of the Organization BC, which services impact customer
service, information gathering and storing, and work processes efficiency, is the
database maintenance and service supplier. A key performance measure is the number
of times the database is not accessible or operational. The results showed that a
complete database breakdown happened only once, and very rarely was otherwise not
2531
16 20 24
63 6368
94
117
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Reaffirmation (returning schools)
Organization BC Competitor 1
141
operational. The results also indicate the reliability of the suppliers’ selection process
and the leaders and staff skills to engage, motivate, and partner with suppliers.
Customer Results
The Organization BC leaders track customer satisfaction at multiple levels and
in different moments. Some of the measurement happens through the surveys the
organization’s team members send to the schools. The results show strong positive
trends. One exception shows the strong organizational culture of continuous
improvement: The leaders faced one situation of dissatisfaction in 2017 from the
evaluation process which they processed into a learning occasion and immediately
took actions to recover and improve the process. Another satisfaction indicator is the
one resulting from conferences’ surveys. Conferences attendees’ have the opportunity
to provide feedback and rate their satisfaction level from the overall conference
execution and specific items like presentations’ content and quality, and so forth.
Additionally, the leaders ensure the execution of the annual member survey,
and the results show overall satisfaction levels from the membership and services.
Members maintaining multiple accreditations provide feedback about the
comparability of satisfaction indicators with competitors, and the leaders consider the
results similar.
Customer engagement measures include participation in committees, boards,
and site visits. The leaders also ensure providing the opportunity to involve the
members in strategic planning initiatives, innovative accreditation services
formulation, such as accrediting certificates, and approving new standards. The
resulting innovation in certificates accreditation evidences the strength of the
member’s engagement process.
142
Workforce Results
At the time of the data gathering, the organization had two unfilled positions,
which reduced workforce capability and capacity effectiveness. The fact that
employees with different culture left adversely impacted the diversity level of the
organization’s staff. The leaders used to deploy an employee satisfaction survey
providing them with workforce climate results. The temporary under-capacity could
impede the measurement of the workforce climate, but the leaders intend to restart the
survey as soon as possible.
The leaders deployed two other surveys on employees benefits and services in
the last two years. Also, from marketing and accreditation-related surveys, the leaders
gathered information about workforce engagement levels. The leaders started a new
process designed for workforce development. The related key indicators are processed
from the annual employee evaluation forms. The process resulted in training
initiatives which led to internal learning and knowledge sharing, collaboration and
relationships building. The outcome was improved project management across the
organization with reduced waste of time.
Leadership and Governance Results
The senior leaders’ use technology, established processes and tools, and
informal approaches to communicate and engage with the workforce and members
and deploy the organization’s vision and values, encourage two-way communication,
and create a focus on action. The results are effective and numerous communications
on a daily basis, annual evaluations, and personal improvement plans in case of
willingness to support someone’s performance improvement. Communication type,
intensity, and focus differ per organizational unit. Within team’s communication
143
happens face-to-face or via e-mails, while membership committees communicate at
meetings, by phone, during conferences. The senior leaders also communicate with
the 350 volunteers and maintain active communication between the groups.
The senior leaders’ governance accountability indicators are primarily related
to the area of finance. The senior leaders ensure gathering the data from the internal
audit committee and the external audit. As the figures in Table 4 indicate, the trend in
total revenue for Organization BC since 2012 is positive. The revenue from program
services also shows positive figures and the trend is comparable to the market and
competitors. The results related to budget targets show a slight negative trend in the
last years. Also, the senior leaders undergo evaluations from the board of directors,
and the personnel committee members provide the President and CEO with goals,
input, and an annual evaluation.
The legal and regulatory results consist of meeting the nonprofit status of the
organization, which is licensed in a midwestern state. The Organization BC leaders
are also responsible for meeting the requirement necessary for the recognition from
the CHEA, as well as to comply with each country legal system while operating
internationally. The responsibilities are split between the president and CEO and
board of directors, and the accreditation unit. Government and legal systems’
compliance for international operations are part of the responsibilities of the
accreditation unit.
The ethical policy of the organization involves signing a conflict of interest
and nondisclosure document. The results of ethical behavior show one violation in
2018 and three violations in the previous three years. Depending on the severity of the
breaches, the senior leaders decide to deliver additional formal and on-the-job training
144
or discontinue. The process and results differ by organizational unit. The volunteers
are peer-reviewed, and in case of an ethical issue, the chief accreditation officer and
the three of the boards receive the information for review and decision. Different
paths exist for the President and board of directors and for the staff members.
The leaders and staff enjoy the chance of providing services to the community
within three paid days. The leaders and staff engage in various activities to give back
to society individually and as a team.
During the years, the senior leaders developed various long-term strategic
goals and documentation is available to show achievements. Some of the examples
include the implementation of the online reporting portal in 2015, which resulted from
a strategic goal set in 2005. Another example and result is the setting of the
organization’s reserve fund at the level of 400,000 USD.
For building and strengthening core competencies a significant indicator is the
number of accomplished training versus the planned ones. A recent result consists of
the training of one employee on project management, who shared the acquired
knowledge internally and deployed the use of the project management skills in other
departments.
The senior leaders have a dedicated process for managing risk and taking
intelligent risks. The risk assessment and management process results in a precise
plan in consideration of the four major organizational pillars and actions to mitigate
risks with different priority levels.
Financial and Market Results
The figures in Table 4 show the financial performance results of the
organization in terms of revenue generation. Table 6 shows the financial results
145
versus budgeted targets for the last 4 years. The internal and external audit committee
participants segment the data further and provide results per segment of institution or
member type.
Table 6
Financial Results Versus Budget
2015 2016 2017 2018
Result versus budget in USD -35,000 10,000 -66,000 -64,000
Note: Source: Organization BC. Reproduced with permission.
Table 7 shows some comparative market performance results. The figures
indicate a comparable number of member institutions between the competitors. The
level of Internationalization of Competitor 1 is stronger. Some additional market
survey results indicate the slowest growth for the associate degree segment. Also, in
the United States, the growth is slower than internationally.
Table 7
Comparison of Market Results for 2018
Member type
Organization
BC Competitor 1
Campuses 1,162 na
Member institutions 657 780
Internationalization (number of countries) 60 90
Associate degree members 148 na
Baccalaureate and graduate degree
members 978 na
Note: Source: Organization BC. Reproduced with permission.
Key Themes
Process strengths. Organization BC leaders set for the establishment of
mission-driven processes which are purposeful, regular, and repeatable, and help the
146
leaders bring the actions of the different units of the organization together. The
processes the leaders established integrate in a way that makes the entire organization
act as one, despite the high level of membership diversity. The driving force of the
processes’ strengths is the leadership and organizational philosophy which articulates
around excellence and human values, such as learning, continuous improvement, and
respect of people. The Organization BC leaders leverage a combination of trustful
organizational culture with profound knowledge expressed primarily as systems
thinking, motivation, and knowledge creation. The leaders use such smart motivation
techniques as assigning consistent responsibilities and recognizing efforts and
achievements, as well as create an environment of fear eviction facilitating the
process of learning from mistakes, engage personal development and relationships
building which is helpful to foster engagement.
The strategic planning and risk assessment and management process showed a
high level of foresight effectiveness achievement concerning the external and internal
environments’ evaluation. The leaders set processes which foster ensuring of the
quality of information in terms of breadth, depth, and accuracy. The risk assessment
and management processes include the possibility to track progress on both strategic
and operational improvements in an integrated pattern covering all functional areas of
the organization. The complete set of organizational processes showed continuity,
consistency, interactivity, strong learning orientation, and innovation capacity.
Process opportunities. The Organization BC leaders can use the strength of
the foresight effectiveness they achieved to address some envisioning needs which
may arise in the future from the changes in the regulatory and competitive context.
The leaders mid to long-term objective is to place the organization on a higher or
147
leading competitive position. The leaders can step upon the solid foresight
effectiveness foundations to start envisioning an idealized future organization. Some
accompanying processes may include partnering with external stakeholders such as
students, as well as acquiring the capacity to detect social character changes and use
personality type knowledge to set the envisioning team.
Results strengths. The results presented and discussed in Category 7 evidence
the consistency and strength of the processes in all areas. The excellence-driven
culture of inclusiveness and respect combined with the foresight effectiveness help
the leaders to maintain a compelling mission-led offering, as well as to achieve
effective learning and continuous improvement outcomes through the mission-aligned
performance measurement system. The growing revenues, members acquisition, and
return rates, and positive results in workforce engagement, customer satisfaction, and
governance outcomes show the effectiveness of the systems perspective Organization
BC leaders practice in their management approach.
Results opportunities. Category 7 data showed highly compelling results
indicating the significance of continuing to practice the systems approach embedded
in the Baldrige framework. The leaders may wish to search for an opportunity to
improve the slight slip of the financial results as compared to the budget targets. The
leaders can address their financial endeavors through leveraging the innovations they
bring to the market to raise mission and brand awareness. The leaders can develop
processes designed to engage prompt actions in cases of innovation relying on
engaging a more consistent and targeted set of social media features.
148
Project Summary
Nonprofit leaders need strategies to cope with increasing competition, lead
change, and improve organizational performance. Strategic planning is a well-
established and recognized tool helpful to formulate and develop strategy, assess
alternatives, and achieve organizational success in the nonprofit sector (Rana et al.,
2017; Wolf & Floyd, 2017). However, to benefit from the advantages of strategic
planning, nonprofit leaders must establish well designed and functioning processes
allowing for a systems perspective, stimulating continuous learning and improvement,
and resting on solid organizational philosophy helpful to value respect for people and
variety of input. In this single case study, I analyzed how leaders of a United States
nonprofit organization located in the Midwest have used strategies to develop
effective plans for increasing organizational performance based on strategic
intelligence. Nonprofit leaders can use the data I have gathered in this case study to
develop strategic plans designed to improve organizational performance.
Establishing a trustful organizational culture coupled with systems thinking,
motivation, and knowledge creation processes are essential to set for effective
strategic planning and leading change (Maccoby & Scudder, 2011). An organizational
philosophy resting on such values as excellence, learning, continuous improvement,
and respect of people, is helpful for leaders willing to set clear decision-making and
behavioral guidance (Maccoby, 2015). Leaders are well-equipped to maintain
knowledge creation and foster employees’ engagement in assigning consistent
responsibilities, recognizing efforts and achievements, and facilitating learning from
mistakes (Maccoby & Scudder, 2011). An essential prerequisite of effective strategic
149
planning is the ensuring of quality, quantity, and pertinence of the information
(Drevon et al., 2018; Garcia-Alsina et al., 2016).
The participants in this study shared a considerable amount of information
about the leaders’ efforts to develop effective plans for increasing organizational
performance based on strategic intelligence. The findings from this study are
significant for nonprofit leaders who face competitive pressures, changing
regulations, and desire to improve performance. Organization BC leaders established
on-going and transparent processes guaranteeing effective foresight development
which comprise considering of the contextual challenges, variety of perspectives,
holistic risk-oriented environmental scanning, and systems thinking helpful to detect
and evaluate strategic opportunities consistent with the organization’s mission. The
leaders ensured the functioning of the system through shared values and Baldrige-
based organizational culture of learning, excellence, and respect.
The findings of this study indicate the primary role of ensuring the
consistency among organizational mission, culture, philosophy, and a systems
perspective to strive for continuous improvement. The participants shared information
about the organization’s characteristics as established in the Baldrige framework,
comprising such categories as leadership, strategy, customers, analysis and
performance measurement, knowledge management, workforce, and operations.
Nonprofit leaders reviewing the data in this study may gather insights into approaches
to assess their organization and strategies to develop strategic intelligence-based plans
for improving performance.
The implications for social change include the possibility for nonprofit leaders
to consider approaches for guiding their organizations through rapidly changing
150
environments, compete successfully, and sustain delivery of high impact to the public
and communities that they serve. Technology, globalization, increased competition,
changes in regulations and social characters are part of the primary challenges the
leaders of nonprofit organizations face. Effective strategic intelligence-based plans are
helpful to navigate through the challenges, lead change, and improve performance.
Contributions and Recommendations
The results of this study indicate the significance of leadership philosophy,
consistency between mission, values, and processes, foresight effectiveness, learning
and improvement, and the systems perspective for developing effective plans to cope
with change and improve performance. After employing the Baldrige approach to the
systematic analysis of my client organization, I presented to the client organization
some elements for future considerations. Some primary components include preparing
to redefine the mission shortly with a different focus on the end services user and
structure the envisioning team, strengthening the brand positioning, including the
development of social media use guidelines in the risk assessment and management
process, and leveraging processes to maximize benefits from innovations.
Organization BC leaders set for a high level of effective consistency between
mission, values, and organizational processes, and the results show continuous
progress. The recent signals for changes in the accreditation regulations, as well as the
changes in the social character and potential expectations of students and the public,
lead to the need to think about redefining the mission of the organization. The leaders
placed the students as the primary stakeholder in the current functioning of the
organization and considered the members of the organization as their primary
customers. It is my recommendation that the senior leaders explore demographic,
151
psychographic, futurist and various other appropriate types of data internationally, to
accumulate knowledge about the changing social characters and design strategic paths
to connect with the students as a primary user of accreditation services.
Together with leveraging strategic intelligence techniques and processes
which the leaders successfully implement, resetting the organization’s mission and
functioning in a new way comprises the designation of a team of people having the
capacity to envision strategically. Organization BC leaders can rely on the exceptional
foresight effectiveness they achieve regularly. Establishing some psychoanalytical
approaches and tests can help complete detecting envisioning talent.
Brand awareness and clear differentiation are other elements the senior
leaders need to address with the present and future missions and functioning. Reliance
on unique organization’s features, such as the adherence to the Baldrige framework is
essential. The findings show that the leaders should establish the paths for developing
the connections and the communication strategy in compelling and appealing ways to
the new students’ social character.
Webpages and social media presence and use are essential for various
communication purposes, and strategic and brand positioning aims. Technology is fast
developing and influences the nonprofit organizations’ operations and image.
Including emotionally impactful visual elements on dynamized webpage platforms
with the latest available technologies in line with the desired organizational
positioning and values are another set of components the leaders can consider.
Organization BC teams actively use social media to communicate with members and
stakeholders. However, some social media platforms have new and more powerful
tools which the teams can leverage to build a larger online community and
152
communicate impactfully. The leaders can include the development of social media
policies and guidelines in the next risk assessment and management sessions to allow
using social media tools more powerfully.
Organization BC is the first and for the moment the only accrediting body
offering the possibility for the institutions to accredit certificates. Accrediting
certificates is an industry innovation, and in introducing it, the leaders provide the
opportunity to the organization to gain competitive advantage, market leadership, and
brand image. However, the organization’s leaders need to address the creation of
processes necessary to leverage the benefits of innovations. I recommend the leaders
consider including these processes in specific brand manuals outlining branding and
positioning policies.
Qualitative researchers exploring the development of effective strategic plans
leading to improved performance in the nonprofit sector in the future may benefit
from enlarging the population and conducting multiple case studies. In considering
the findings, assumptions, and limitations of this study, other researchers may achieve
similar or compatible conclusions with larger populations. I recommend researchers
use the strategic intelligence system as the theoretical framework for conducting
quantitative studies to fill the void of using strategic intelligence as a systems
approach.
153
References
Abdalla, M. M., Oliveira, L. G. L., Azevedo, C. E. F., & Gonzalez, R. K. (2018).
Quality in qualitative organizational research: Types of triangulation as a
methodological alternative. Administração: Ensino e Pesquisa, 19(1), 66-98.
doi:10.13058/raep.2018.v19n1.578
Abuzaid, A. N. (2017). Exploring the impact of strategic intelligence on
entrepreneurial orientation: A practical study on the Jordanian diversified
financial services companies. International Management Review, 13(1), 72-
84. Retrieved from https://www.questia.com/library/p150683/international-
management-review
Acevedo, A. (2018). A personalistic appraisal of Maslow’s needs theory of
motivation: From “humanistic” psychology to integral humanism. Journal of
Business Ethics, 148, 741-763. doi:10.1007/s10551-015-2970-0
Ackoff, R. L. (1974). The systems revolution. Long Range Planning, 7, 2-20.
Retrieved from https://www.journals.elsevier.com/long-range-planning
Al-Haddad, S., & Kotnour, T. (2015). Integrating the organizational change literature:
A model for successful change. Journal of Organizational Change
Management, 28, 234-262. doi:10.1108/JOCM-11-2013-0215
Al-Hosaini, F. F., & Sofian, S. (2015). A review of balanced scorecard framework in
higher education institution (HEIs). International Review of Management and
Marketing, 5(1), 26-35. Retrieved from
https://www.econjournals.com/index.php/irmm
Allio, R. J. (2016). Learning to be a leader. Strategy & Leadership, 44(4), 3-9.
doi:10.1108/SL-06-2016-0041
154
Alnoukari, M., & Hanano, A. (2017). Integration of business intelligence with
corporate strategic management. Journal of Intelligence Studies in Business,
7(2), 5-16. Retrieved from http://www.ojs.hh.se/
Alnoukari, M., Razouk, R., & Hanano, A. (2016). BSC-SI, A framework for
integrating strategic intelligence in corporate strategic management.
International Journal of Strategic Information Technology and Applications
(IJSITA), 7(1), 32-44. doi:10.4018/IJSITA.2016010103
Al-Zu’bi, H. A. (2016). Aspects of strategic intelligence and its role in achieving
organizational agility: An empirical investigation. International Journal of
Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 6, 233-241.
doi:10.6007/IJARBSS/v6-i4/2101
Amankwaa, L. (2016). Creating protocols for trustworthiness in qualitative research.
Journal of Cultural Diversity, 23, 121-127. Retrieved from
http://www.tuckerpub.com/jcd.htm
Amar, A. D., & Hlupic, V. (2016). Leadership for knowledge organizations.
European Journal of Innovation Management, 19, 239-260.
doi:10.1108/EJIM-12-2014-012.
Baba, Y. (2015). Does learning orientation matter for nonprofit organization
performance? Empirical evidence from Ghana. Leadership & Organization
Development Journal, 36, 234-252. doi:10.1108/LODJ-05-2013-0056
Baei, F., Ahmadi, M., Malafeh, N. S. A., & Baee, A. (2017). The relationship between
manager’s strategic intelligence and organization development in
governmental agencies in Iran (Case study: Office of Cooperatives Labor and
Social Welfare). International Review of Management and Marketing, 7(2),
155
244-249. Retrieved from http://www.econjournals.com
Bagnoli, M., & Watts, S. G. (2015). Competitive intelligence and disclosure. RAND
Journal of Economics, 46, 709-729. doi:10.1111/1756-2171.12103
Bailey, D. (2015, July). The metrology of organizational performance: How Baldrige
standards have become the common language for organizational excellence
around the world [Website]. Retrieved from http://www.ses-standards.org
Baldrige Performance Excellence Program. (2017). 2017-2018 Baldrige excellence
framework: A systems approach to improving your organization’s
performance. Retrieved from
https://www.nist.gov/baldrige/publications/baldrige-excellence-
framework/businessnonprofit
Belinfanti, T., & Stout, L. (2018). Contested visions: The value of systems theory
forcorporate law. University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 166, 579-631.
Retrieved from https://www.pennlawreview.com/
Ben-Haim, Y. (2018). Positivism and its limitations for strategic intelligence: A non-
constructivist info-gap critique. Intelligence and National Security. Advance
online publication. doi:10.1080/02684527.2018.1471846
Bennett, P. J., Geringer, S. D., & Taylor, J. (2015). The effect of accreditation on the
university selection of undergraduate business majors: An empirical
study. International Journal of Education Research, 10(1), 78-96. Retrieved
from http://www.iabpad.com/journals/international-journal-of-education-
research/
Benoot, C., Hannes, K., & Bilsen, J. (2016). The use of purposeful sampling in a
qualitative evidence synthesis: A worked example on sexual adjustment to a
156
cancer trajectory. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 16(1), 1-12.
doi:10.1186/s12874-016-0114-6
Birkinshaw, J., Brannen, M. Y., & Tung, R. L. (2011). From a distance and
generalizable to up close and grounded: Reclaiming a place for qualitative
methods in international business research. Journal of International Business
Studies, 42, 573–581. doi:10.1057/jibs.2011.19
Birt, L., Scott, S., Cavers, D., Campbell, C., & Walter, F. (2016). Member checking:
A tool to enhance trustworthiness or merely a nod to validation? Qualitative
Health Research, 26, 1802-1811. doi:10.1177/1049732316654870
Bish, A., & Becker, K. (2016). Exploring expectations of nonprofit management
capabilities. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 45, 437-457.
doi:10.1177/0899764015583313
Bisson, C., & Dou, H. (2017). Une intelligence économique et stratégique pour les
PME, PMI et ETI en France [Economic and strategic intelligence for the
SMEs in France]. Vie & sciences de l'entreprise, 204, 164-179. Retrieved
from https://www.cairn.info/revue-vie-et-sciences-de-l-entreprise.htm
Boddy, C. R. (2016). Sample size for qualitative research. Qualitative Market
Research: An International Journal, 19, 426-432. doi:10.1108/QMR-06-2016-
0053
Bryson, J. M. (2018). Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations: A
guide to strengthening and sustaining organizational achievement [Kindle
version]. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com
Calitz, A., Bosire, S., & Cullen, M. (2017). The role of business intelligence in
sustainability reporting for South African higher education
157
institutions. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education.
Advance online publication. doi:10.1108/IJSHE-10-2016-0186
Calof, J., Arcos, R., & Sewdass, N. (2017). Competitive intelligence practices of
European firms. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, 30, 658-671.
doi:10.1080/09537325.2017.1337890
Calof, J., Richards, G., & Santilli, P. (2017). Integration of business intelligence with
corporate strategic management. Journal of Intelligence Studies in
Business, 7(3), 62-73. Retrieved from http://www.ojs.hh.se/
Campbell, J. L., Quincy, C., Osserman, J., & Pedersen, O. K. (2013). Coding in-depth
semistructured interviews: Problems of unitization and intercoder reliability
and agreement. Sociological Methods & Research, 42, 294-320.
doi:10.1177/0049124113500475
Carayannis, E. G., Grigoroudis, E., Del Giudice, M., Della Peruta, M. R., & Sindakis,
S. (2017). An exploration of contemporary organizational artifacts and
routines in a sustainable excellence context. Journal of Knowledge
Management, 21(1), 35-56. doi:10.1108/JKM-10-2015-0366
Carayannis, E. G., Meissner, D., & Edelkina, A. (2017). Targeted innovation policy
and practice intelligence (TIP2E): Concepts and implications for theory,
policy and practice. Journal of Technology Transfer, 42, 460-484.
doi:10.1007/s10961-015-9433-8
Carnevale, J. B., Huang, L., & Harms, P. D. (2018). Leader consultation mitigates the
harmful effects of leader narcissism: A belongingness
perspective. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 146,
76-84. doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2018.04.003
158
Castillo, E. A., & Trinh, M. P. (2018). Catalyzing capacity: Absorptive, adaptive, and
generative leadership. Journal of Organizational Change Management.
Advance online publication. doi:10.1108/ JOCM-04-2017-0100
Castillo-Montoya, M. (2016). Preparing for interview research: The interview
protocol refinement framework. The Qualitative Report, 21, 811-831.
Retrieved from http://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr
Chatzoglou, P., & Chatzoudes, D. (2018). The role of innovation in building
competitive advantages: An empirical investigation. European Journal of
Innovation Management, 21(1), 44-69. doi:10.1108/EJIM-02-2017-0015
Chen, S. H. (2017). Who cares: Stakeholder participation and the use of performance
information in strategic planning. Chinese Public Administration Review, 8(2),
86-103. doi:10.22140/cpar.v8i2.125
Concord Leadership Group. (2016). Nonprofit sector leadership report 2016.
Retrieved from https://www.concordleadershipgroup.com/report/
Council for Higher Education Accreditation. (2010, June 28). Recognition of
accrediting organizations [Pdf document]. Retrieved from
https://www.chea.org/2010-chea-recognition-policy-and-procedures
Council for Higher Education Accreditation. (2018, February 21). Major accreditation
challenges of H.R. 4508 [Web page]. Retrieved from
https://www.chea.org/major-accreditation-challenges-hr-4508
Dasgupta, M. (2015). Exploring the relevance of case study research. Vision, 19, 147-
160. doi:10.1177/0972262915575661
De Massis, A., & Kotlar, J. (2014). The case study method in family business
research: Guidelines for qualitative scholarship. Journal of Family Business
159
Strategy, 5, 15-29. doi:10.1016/j.jfbs.2014.01.007
Doh, L., Prince, D., McLain, M., & Credle, S. H. (2018). The impact of the AACSB
accreditation on enrollment growth at HBCU (historically Black Colleges and
Universities) business schools. Research Journal of Business and
Management, 5, 130-141. doi:10.17261/Pressacademia.2018.832
Drevon, E., Maurel, D., & Dufour, C. (2018). Veille stratégique et prise de décision:
Une revue de la littérature [Strategic intelligence and decision-making: A
literature review]. Documentation et Bibliothèques, 64(1), 28-34.
doi:10.7202/1043720ar
Duque, E. M., Ishitani, L., Mol, A. M., Machado, M. C., Neves, D. E., Martins, S. W.,
& de Oliveira Santos, L. G. N. (2019). The use of ethnography in computer
science research: A systematic literature review. Revista Tecnologia e
Sociedade, 15(35), 194-211. Retrieved from https://periodicos.utfpr.edu.br/rts
Edgeman, R., & Wu, Z. (2016). Supply chain criticality in sustainable and resilient
enterprises. Journal of Modelling in Management, 11, 869-888.
doi:10.1108/JM2-10-2014-0078
Elbanna, S. (2016). Managers' autonomy, strategic control, organizational politics and
strategic planning effectiveness: An empirical investigation into missing links
in the hotel sector. Tourism Management, 52, 210-220.
doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2015.06.025
Ellis, T. J., & Levy, Y. (2009). Towards a guide for novice researchers on research
methodology: Review and proposed methods. Issues in Informing Science and
Information Technology, 6, 323-337. doi:10.28945/1062
Erkutlu, H., & Chafra, J. (2017). Leaders’ narcissism and organizational cynicism in
160
healthcare organizations. International Journal of Workplace Health
Management, 10, 346-363. doi:10.1108/IJWHM-12-2016-0090
Ezenwa, O., Stella, A., & Agu, A. O. (2018). Effect of competitive intelligence on
competitive advantage in Innoson technical and industry limited, Enugu state,
Nigeria. International Journal of Business, Economics & Management
(IJBEM), 1, 28-39. doi:10.31295/bem.v1n1.25
Fanelli, S., Lanza, G., & Zangrandi, A. (2018). Competences management for
improving performance in health organizations: The Niguarda Hospital in
Milan. International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, 31, 337-349.
doi:10.1108/IJHCQA-02-2017-0035
Fernandez, S. (2017). The impact of leadership styles on values and
performance. Journal of Health Visiting, 5, 34-37.
doi:10.12968/johv.2017.5.1.34
Fletcher, D., De Massis, A., & Nordqvist, M. (2016). Qualitative research practices
and family business scholarship: A review and future research agenda. Journal
of Family Business Strategy, 7, 8-25. doi:10.1016/j.jfbs.2015.08.001
Flynn, M. L. (2017). Science, innovation, and social work: Clash or
convergence? Research on Social Work Practice, 27, 123-128.
doi:10.1177/1049731516686198
Foster, R. (2017). Social Character: Erich Fromm and the ideological glue of
neoliberalism. Critical Horizons, 18, 1-18.
doi:10.1080/14409917.2017.1275166
Fourati-Jamoussi, F., Niamba, C. N., & Duquennoy, J. (2018). An evaluation of
competitive and technological intelligence tools: A cluster analysis of users’
161
perceptions. Journal of Intelligence Studies in Business, 8(1), 5-15. Retrieved
from https://www.ojs.hh.se
Francis, J. J., Johnston, M., Robertson, C., Glidewell, L., Entwistle, V., Eccles, M. P.,
& Grimshaw, J. M. (2010). What is an adequate sample size? Operationalising
data saturation for theory-based interview studies. Psychology and Health, 25,
1229-1245. doi:10.1080/08870440903194015
Fromm, E., & Maccoby, M. (2014). Social character in Mexican village: A
sociopsychoanalitic study [Kindle version]. Retrieved from
http://www.amazon.fr
Fusch, P., Fusch, G. E., & Ness, L. R. (2018). Denzin’s paradigm shift: Revisiting
triangulation in qualitative research. Journal of Social Change, 10, 19-32.
doi:10.5590/JOSC.2018.10.1.02
Fusch, P. I., & Ness, L. R. (2015). Are we there yet? Data saturation in qualitative
research. The Qualitative Report, 20, 1408-1416. Retrieved from
http://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/
Gálvez-Rodríguez, M. D. M., Gálvez-Rodríguez, M. D. M., Caba-Pérez, C., Caba-
Pérez, C., López-Godoy, M., & López-Godoy, M. (2016). Drivers of Twitter
as a strategic communication tool for non-profit organizations. Internet
Research, 26, 1052-1071. doi:10.1108/IntR-07-2014-0188
Gao, F. (2016). Social media as a communication strategy: Content analysis of top
nonprofit foundations’ micro-blogs in China. International Journal of
Strategic Communication, 10, 255-271. doi:10.1080/1553118X.2016.1196693
Garcia-Alsina, M., Cobarsí-Morales, J., & Ortoll, E. (2016). Competitive intelligence
theoretical framework and practices: The case of Spanish universities. Aslib
162
Journal of Information Management, 68, 57-75. doi:10.1108/AJIM-04-2015-
0061
Gaus, N. (2017). Selecting research approaches and research designs: A reflective
essay. Qualitative Research Journal, 17, 99-112. doi:10.1108/QRJ-07-2016-
0041
Gaya, H. J., & Smith, E. E. (2016). Developing a qualitative single case study in the
strategic management realm: An appropriate research design? International
Journal of Business Management and Economic Research, 7, 529-538.
Retrieved from
http://www.ijbmer.com/docs/volumes/vol7issue2/ijbmer2016070201.pdf
Gill, M. J. (2014). The possibilities of phenomenology for organizational research.
Organizational Research Methods, 17, 118-137.
doi:10.1177/1094428113518348
Grèzes, V. (2015). The definition of competitive intelligence needs through a
synthesis model. Journal of Intelligence Studies in Business, 5, 40-56.
Retrieved from http://www. ojs.hh.se
Hale, A. J., Ricotta, D. N., Freed, J., Smith, C. C., & Huang, G. C. (2018). Adapting
Maslow's hierarchy of needs as a framework for resident wellness. Teaching
and Learning in Medicine. Advance online publication.
doi:10.1080/10401334.2018.1456928
Harvey, L. (2015). Beyond member checking: A dialogic approach to the research
interview. International Journal of Research & Method in Education, 38, 23-
38. doi:10.1080/1743727X.2014.914487
Hawkins, J. E. (2018). The practical utility suitability of e-mail interviews in
163
qualitative research. The Qualitative Report, 23, 493-501. Retrieved from
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr
Hays, D. G., Wood, C., Dahl, H., & Kirk-Jenkins, A. (2016). Methodological rigor in
Journal of Counseling & Development qualitative research articles: A 15-year
review. Journal of Counseling & Development, 94, 172-183.
doi:10.1002/jcad.12074
Horvath, A., Brandtner, C., & Powell, W. (2018). Serve or conserve: Mission,
strategy, and multi-level nonprofit change during the great
recession. Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit
Organizations, 29, 962-975. doi:10.1007/s11266-017-9948-8
Houck, M. M. (2017). Strategic leadership through performance management:
Foresight as PerformanceStat. Australian Journal of Forensic Sciences.
Advance online publication. doi:10.1080/00450618.2017.1374457
Huang, S. L., & Ku, H. H. (2016). Brand image management for nonprofit
organizations: Exploring the relationships between websites, brand images and
donations. Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, 17, 80-96. Retrieved
from http://www.jecr.org/
Hunt, S. C. (2015). Research on the value of AACSB business accreditation in
selected areas: A review and synthesis. American Journal of Business
Education, 8(1), 23-30. doi:10.19030/ajbe.v8i1.9014
Johansen, M., Kim, T., & Zhu, L. (2018). Managing for results differently: Examining
managers’ purposeful performance information use in public, nonprofit, and
private organizations. The American Review of Public Administration, 48,
133-147. doi:10.1177/0275074016676574
164
Kim, J., & Lee, C. (2017). Novelty-focused weak signal detection in futuristic data:
Assessing the rarity and paradigm unrelatedness of signals. Technological
Forecasting and Social Change, 120, 59-76.
doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2017.04.006
King, D. (2017). Becoming business-like: Governing the nonprofit
professional. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 46, 241-260.
doi:10.1177/0899764016663321
Knox, C. C., & Wang, X. (2016). Capacity to implement performance measurement
in small nonprofits. Journal of Public Management & Social Policy, 22(3), 1-
20. Retrieved from https://digitalscholarship.tsu.edu/jpmsp/
Kong, E. (2015). A qualitative analysis of social intelligence in nonprofit
organizations: external knowledge acquisition for human capital development,
organizational learning and innovation. Knowledge Management Research &
Practice, 13, 463-474. doi:10.1057/kmrp.2013.63
Kross, J., & Giust, A. (2019). Elements of research questions in relation to qualitative
inquiry. The Qualitative Report, 24, 24-30. Retrieved from
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr
Kuosa, T. (2014). Towards strategic intelligence: Foresight, intelligence, and policy-
making. Helsinki, Finland: Dynamic Futures.
Landon-Murray, M. (2017). Putting a little more “time” into strategic intelligence
analysis. International Journal of Intelligence and Counter Intelligence, 30,
785-809. doi:10.1080/08850607.2017.1297118
Langer, J., & LeRoux, K. (2017). Developmental culture and effectiveness in
nonprofit organizations. Public Performance & Management Review, 40, 457-
165
479. doi:10.1080/15309576.2016.1273124
Lee, C., & Nowell, B. (2015). A framework for assessing the performance of
nonprofit organizations. American Journal of Evaluation, 36, 299-319.
doi:10.1177/1098214014545828
Leppäaho, T., Plakoyiannaki, E., & Dimitratos, P. (2016). The case study in family
business: An analysis of current research practices and
recommendations. Family Business Review, 29, 159-173.
doi:10.1177/0894486515614157
Levine Daniel, J., & Kim, M. (2018). The scale of mission-embeddedness as a
nonprofit revenue classification tool: Different earned revenue types, different
performance effects. Administration & Society, 50, 947-972.
doi:10.1177/0095399716647152
Maccoby, M. (1997). The human side: Learning to partner and partnering to
learn. Research-Technology Management, 40(3), 55-57.
doi:10.1080/08956308.1997.11671131
Maccoby, M. (2001). The human side: Successful leaders employ strategic
intelligence. Research-Technology Management, 44(3), 58-60.
doi:10.1080/08956308.2001.11671431
Maccoby, M. (2002). Toward a science of social character. International Forum of
Psychoanalysis, 11(1), 33-44. doi:10.1080/080370602317353255
Maccoby, M. (2007). Narcissistic leaders: Who succeeds and who fails (2nd ed.).
Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Maccoby, M. (2015). Strategic intelligence: Conceptual tools for leading change.
New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
166
Maccoby, M. (2017). Learning and doing: Working with Fromm and applying what I
learned. The Psychoanalytic Review, 104, 523-537.
doi:10.1521/prev.2017.104.4.523
Maccoby, M., & Scudder, T. (2011). Strategic intelligence: A conceptual system of
leadership for change. Performance Improvement, 50(3), 32-40.
doi:10.1002/pfi.20205
Maccoby, M., & Scudder, T. (2018). The leaders we need: And what makes us follow
(2nd ed.). Carlsbad, CA: Personal Strengths Publishing.
Macedo, I. M., Pinho, J. C., & Silva, A. M. (2016). Revisiting the link between
mission statements and organizational performance in the non-profit sector:
The mediating effect of organizational commitment. European Management
Journal, 34, 36-46. doi:10.1016/j.emj.2015.10.003
Maier, F., Meyer, M., & Steinbereithner, M. (2016). Nonprofit organizations
becoming business-like: A systematic review. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector
Quarterly, 45, 64-86. doi:10.1177/0899764014561796
Maritz, R., & du Toit, A. (2018). The practice turn within strategy: Competitive
intelligence as integrating practice. South African Journal of Economic and
Management Sciences, 21(1), 1-14. doi:10.4102/sajems.v21i1.2059
Marshall, C., & Rossman, G. B. (2016). Designing qualitative research [Kindle
version]. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.fr
McConnell, C., Rush, D., & Gartland, M. (2016). Investigating MBA degrees earned
by women: A decade of change. Journal of Education for Business, 91, 318-
326. doi:10.1080/08832323.2016.1201453
McDonald, R. E., Weerawardena, J., Madhavaram, S., & Sullivan Mort, G. (2015).
167
From “virtuous” to “pragmatic” pursuit of social mission: A sustainability-
based typology of nonprofit organizations and corresponding
strategies. Management Research Review, 38, 970-991. doi:10.1108/mrr-11-
2013-0262
McIntosh, M. J., & Morse, J. M. (2015). Situating and constructing diversity in
semistructured interviews. Global Qualitative Nursing Research, 2, 1-12.
doi:10.1177/2333393615597674
Meehan, W. F., III., & Jonker, K. S. (with The Center for Social Innovations at
Stanford Graduate School of Business, The Stanford Center on Philanthropy
and Civil Society, Stanford Social Innovation Review, GuideStar,
Boardsource). (2017). Stanford survey on leadership and management in the
nonprofit sector. Retrieved from http://www.engineofimpact.org/survey/
Metcalf, A. Y., Habermann, M., Fry, T. D., & Stoller, J. K. (2018). The impact of
quality practices and employee empowerment in the performance of hospital
units. International Journal of Production Research, 56, 5997-6014.
doi:10.1080/00207543.2018.1475763
Meyer, M. H., Crane, F. G., & Lee, C. (2016). Connecting ethnography to the
business of innovation. Business Horizons, 59, 699-711.
doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2016.07.001
Milde, K., & Yawson, R. M. (2017). Strategies for social media use in
nonprofits. Journal of Management Policy and Practice, 18(1), 19-27.
Retrieved from http://www.jmppnet.com/
Mirabeau, L., Kinder, J., & Malherbe, S. (2015). Archetypes of governance for
science and technology labs. Technology Analysis & Strategic
168
Management, 27(1), 54-72. doi:10.1080/09537325.2014.951319
Morse, J. M. (2015). Critical analysis of strategies for determining rigor in qualitative
inquiry. Qualitative health research, 25, 1212-1222.
doi:10.1177/1049732315588501
National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and
Behavioral Research (1979). The Belmont Report: Ethical principles and
guidelines for the protection of human subjects of research. Washington, DC:
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved from
http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/humansubjects/guidance/Belmont.html
Nelson, J. (2016). Using conceptual depth criteria: Addressing the challenge of
reaching saturation in qualitative research. Qualitative Research, 17, 554-570.
doi:10.1177/1468794116679873
Newcomer, K., & Brass, C. T. (2016). Forging a strategic and comprehensive
approach to evaluation within public and nonprofit organizations: Integrating
measurement and analytics within evaluation. American Journal of
Evaluation, 37, 80-99. doi:10.1177/1098214014567144
Nieminen, M., & Hyytinen, K. (2015). Future-oriented impact assessment: Supporting
strategic decision-making in complex socio-technical
environments. Evaluation, 21, 448-461. doi:10.1177/1356389015606540
Nkwake, A. M., & Morrow, N. (2016). Clarifying concepts and categories of
assumptions for use in evaluation. Evaluation and program planning, 59, 97-
101. doi:10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2016.05.014
Oubrich, M., Hakmaoui, A., Bierwolf, R., & Haddani, M. (2018). Development of a
competitive intelligence maturity model: Insights from Moroccan companies.
169
Journal of Intelligence Studies in Business, 8(1), 25-36. Retrieved from
https://www.ojs.hh.se
Packard, T., & Jones, L. (2015). An outcomes evaluation of a leadership development
initiative. Journal of Management Development, 34, 153-168.
doi:10.1108/JMD-05-2013-0063
Palinkas, L. A., Horwitz, S. M., Green, C. A., Wisdom, J. P., Duan, N., & Hoagwood,
K. (2015). Purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis in
mixed method implementation research. Administration and Policy in Mental
Health and Mental Health Services Research, 42, 533-544.
doi:10.1007/s10488-013-0528-y
Pandey, S., Kim, M., & Pandey, S. K. (2017). Do mission statements matter for
nonprofit performance? Insights from a study of US performing arts
organizations. Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 27, 389-410.
doi:10.1002/nml.21257
Park, J., & Park, M. (2016). Qualitative versus quantitative research methods:
Discovery or justification? Journal of Marketing Thought, 3(1), 1-7. Retrieved
from http://www.ejmt.org
Percy, W. H., Kostere, K., & Kostere, S. (2015). Generic qualitative research in
psychology. The Qualitative Report, 20, 76-85. Retrieved from
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr
Perrault, E. K., & Keating, D. M. (2018). Seeking ways to inform the uninformed:
Improving the informed consent process in online social science
research. Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics, 13, 50-
60. doi:10.1177/1556264617738846 j
170
Petitgand, C. (2017). Business tools in nonprofit organizations: A performative
story. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 24, 667-
682. doi:10.1108/ijebr-09-2016-0312
Petty, N. J., Thomson, O. P., & Stew, G. (2012). Ready for a paradigm shift? Part 2:
Introducing qualitative research methodologies and methods. Manual
therapy, 17, 378-384. doi:10.1016/j.math.2012.03.004
Pirozzi, M. G., & Ferulano, G. P. (2016). Intellectual capital and performance
measurement in healthcare organizations: An integrated new model. Journal
of Intellectual Capital, 17, 320-350. doi:10.1108/JIC-07-2015-0063
Pucciarelli, F., & Kaplan, A. (2016). Competition and strategy in higher education:
Managing complexity and uncertainty. Business Horizons, 59, 311-320.
doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2016.01.003
Qian, H., & Kapucu, N. (2017). Can management practices make a difference?
Nonprofit organization financial performance during times of economic
stress. Journal of Economics and Financial Analysis, 1(2), 71-88.
doi:10.1991/jefa.v1i2.a9
Raffo, D. M., Clark, L. A., & Arik, M. (2016). Strategic responses of non-profit
organizations to the economic crisis: Examining through the lenses of resource
dependency and resourced-based view theories. Academy of Strategic
Management Journal, 15(1), 48-70. Retrieved from
https://www.abacademies.org/journals/academy-of-strategic-management-
journal-home.html
Rakthin, S., Calantone, R. J., & Wang, J. F. (2016). Managing market intelligence:
The comparative role of absorptive capacity and market orientation. Journal of
171
Business Research, 69, 5569-5577. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.03.064
Rana, R. A., Rana, F. Z., & Rana, H. A. (2017). Strategic planning role in nonprofit
organizations. Journal for Studies in Management and Planning, 3(6), 166-
170. Retrieved from
http://www.edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP
Ridder, H. G. (2017). The theory contribution of case study research
designs. Business Research, 10, 281-305. doi:10.1007/s40685-017-0045-z
Rohrbeck, R., Battistella, C., & Huizingh, E. (2015). Corporate foresight: An
emerging field with a rich tradition. Technological Forecasting and Social
Change, 101, 1-9. doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2015.11.002
Ruiz-Casares, M., & Thompson, J. (2016). Obtaining meaningful informed consent:
Preliminary results of a study to develop visual informed consent forms with
children. Children's Geographies, 14, 35-45.
doi:10.1080/14733285.2014.971713
Rule, P., & John, V. M. (2015). A necessary dialogue: Theory in case study
research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 14, 1-11.
doi:10.1177/1609406915611575
Rustambekov, E., & Unni, V. K. (2017). The effectiveness of strategy in non-profit
organizations: An exploratory study of academic institutions. Journal of
Business Strategies, 34(1), 15-32. Retrieved from
http://www.shsu.edu/centers/cbed/journal/index.html
Sabir, S., & Bhutta, Z. M. (2018). Leader motivating language as predictor of
organizational commitment among generation Y teachers: The mediating role
of organizational climate. NUML International Journal of Business &
172
Management, 13(1), 118-133. Retrieved from
https://www.numl.edu.pk/NUML-Research-Publications.aspx
Sautter, B. (2016). Futuring European industry: Assessing the manufuture road
towards EU re-industrialization. European Journal of Futures Research, 4(1),
1-12. doi:10.1007/s40309-016-0100-6
Scholtz, B., Calitz, A., & Haupt, R. (2018). A business intelligence framework for
sustainability information management in higher education. International
Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 19, 266-290.
doi:10.1108/IJSHE-06-2016-0118
Seyyed-Amiri, N., Shirkavand, S., Chalak, M., & Rezaeei, N. (2017). Competitive
intelligence and developing sustainable competitive advantage. AD-minister,
173-194. doi:10.17230/ad-minister.30.9
Sharpe, R. E., Jr., Mehta, T. S., Eisenberg, R. L., & Kruskal, J. B. (2015). Strategic
planning and radiology practice management in the new health care
environment. Radiographics, 35(1), 239-253. doi:10.1148/rg.351140064
Shujahat, M., Hussain, S., Javed, S., Malik, M. I., Thurasamy, R., & Ali, J. (2017).
Strategic management model with lens of knowledge management and
competitive intelligence: A review approach. VINE Journal of Information
and Knowledge Management Systems, 47(1), 55-93. Retrieved from
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journal/vjikms
Shukla, D. (2018). Modeling systems thinking in action among higher education
leaders with fuzzy multi-criteria decision making. Management &
Marketing, 13, 946-965. doi:10.2478/mmcks-2018-0015
Singh, A. S. (2014). Conducting case study research in non-profit organizations.
173
Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 17, 77-84.
doi:10.1108/QMR-04-2013-0024
Søilen, K. S. (2017). Why care about competitive intelligence and market
intelligence? The case of Ericsson and the Swedish Cellulose Company.
Journal of Intelligence Studies in Business, 7(2), 27-39. Retrieved from
http://www. ojs.hh.se
Soysa, I. B., Jayamaha, N. P., & Grigg, N. P. (2017). Validating the balanced
scorecard framework for nonprofit organizations: An empirical study
involving Australasian healthcare. Total Quality Management & Business
Excellence, Advance online publication. doi:10.1080/14783363.2017.1345620
Stefanikova, Ľ., Rypakova, M., & Moravcikova, K. (2015). The impact of
competitive intelligence on sustainable growth of the enterprises. Procedia
Economics and Finance, 26, 209-214. doi:10.1016/s2212-5671(15)00816-3
Stock, G. N., & McFadden, K. L. (2017). Improving service operations: linking safety
culture to hospital performance. Journal of Service Management, 28, 57-84.
doi:10.1108/JOSM-02-2016-0036
Strang, K. D. (2018). Strategic analysis of CSF’s for not-for-profit
organizations. Measuring Business Excellence, 22, 42-63. doi:10.1108/MBE-
07-2016-0035
Sudiardhita, K. I., Mukhtar, S., Hartono, B., Sariwulan, T., & Nikensari, S. I. (2018).
The effect of compensation, motivation of employee and work satisfaction to
employee performance Pt. Bank Xyz (Persero) Tbk. Academy of Strategic
Management Journal, 17(4), 1-14. Retrieved from
https://www.abacademies.org/journals/academy-of-strategic-management-
174
journal-home.html
Sundstrom, B., & Levenshus, A. B. (2017). The art of engagement: Dialogic
strategies on Twitter. Journal of Communication Management, 21, 17-33.
doi:10.1108/ JCOM-07-2015-0057
Tasie, G. (2016). An exploratory review of total quality management and
organizational performance. International Journal of Business and Law
Research, 4(1), 39-45. Retrieved from:
https://seahipaj.org/index.php/journals/business-law-and-finance/ijblr/
Taylor, S., & Land, C. (2014). Organizational anonymity and the negotiation of
research access. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management, 9,
98-109. doi:10.1108/QROM-10-2012-1104
Teusner, A. (2016). Insider research, validity issues, and the OHS professional: One
person’s journey. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 19,
85-96. doi:10.1080/13645579.2015.1019263
Thompson, G., & Glasø, L. (2015). Situational leadership theory: A test from three
perspectives. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 36, 527-544.
doi:10.1108/LODJ-10-2013-0130
Thompson, G., & Glasø, L. (2018). Situational leadership theory: A test from a
leader-follower congruence approach. Leadership & Organization
Development Journal, 39, 574-591. doi:10.1108/LODJ-01-2018-0050
Tolich, M., Choe, L., Doesburg, A., Foster, A., Shaw, R., & Wither, D. (2017).
Teaching research ethics as active learning: Reading Venkatesh and Goffman
as curriculum resources. International Journal of Social Research
Methodology, 20, 243-253. doi:10.1080/13645579.2017.1287870
175
Topaloglu, O., McDonald, R. E., & Hunt, S. D. (2018). The theoretical foundations of
nonprofit competition: A resource-advantage theory approach. Journal of
Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing, 30, 229-250.
doi:10.1080/10495142.2018.1452818
Toscano, R., Price, G., & Scheepers, C. (2018). Impact of CEO arrogance on top
management team attitudes. European Business Review, 30, 630-644.
doi:10.1108/EBR-12-2016-0156
Tyler, L. S. (2015). Emotional intelligence: Not just for leaders [Editorial]. American
Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 72(21), 1849. doi:10.2146/ajhp150750
Upadhyaya, A. S. (2017). To study the relative importance and cruciality of emotional
intelligence for the success of organization, an empirical study of ABC
Company private limited. International Journal of Management Research and
Reviews, 7, 450-465. Retrieved from http://www.ijmrr.com
USA.gov. (2017, May 17). Starting a nonprofit organization [Web page]. Retrieved
from https://www.usa.gov/start-nonprofit
Vakharia, N., Vecco, M., Srakar, A., & Janardhan, D. (2018). Knowledge centricity
and organizational performance: An empirical study of the performing
arts. Journal of Knowledge Management, 22, 1124-1152. doi:10.1108/JKM-
06-2017-0219
Venkatesh, V., Brown, S. A., & Bala, H. (2013). Bridging the qualitative-quantitative
divide: Guidelines for conducting mixed methods research in information
systems. MIS Quarterly, 37, 21-54. Retrieved from http://www.misq.org/
Walden University. (2018). Institutional Review Board for ethical standards in
research [Webpage]. Retrieved from
176
https://www.academicguides.waldenu.edu/researchcenter/orec
Walsh, P. F. (2017). Improving strategic intelligence analytical practice through
qualitative social research. Intelligence and National Security, 32, 548-562.
doi:10.1080/02684527.2017.1310948
Willgens, A. M., Cooper, R., Jadotte, D., Lilyea, B., Langtiw, C., & Obenchain-
Leeson, A. (2016). How to enhance qualitative research appraisal:
Development of the methodological congruence instrument. The Qualitative
Report, 21, 2380- 2395. Retrieved from https://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/
Wolf, C., & Floyd, S. W. (2017). Strategic planning research: Toward a theory-driven
agenda. Journal of Management, 43, 1754-1788.
doi:10.1177/0149206313478185
Yap, C. S., & Rashid, M. Z. A. (2011). Acquisition and strategic use of competitive
intelligence. Malaysian Journal of Library & Information Science, 16(1), 125-
136. Retrieved from https://www.jice.um.edu.my/index.php/MJLIS/index
Yin, R. K. (2018). Case study research and applications: Design and methods (6th
ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications.
Zhu, H., Wang, P., & Bart, C. (2016). Board processes, board strategic involvement,
and organizational performance in for-profit and non-profit
organizations. Journal of Business Ethics, 136, 311-328. doi:10.1007/s10551-
014-2512-1
177
Appendix: Interview Protocol
Date & Time:
Participant:
For this interview, I am using an interview protocol which begins now. My
name is Iglika Kirilov, I am currently a doctoral candidate in Business Administration
-Entrepreneurship, at Walden University. I am conducting research on strategies
nonprofit leaders use to develop plans based on strategic intelligence for improving
their organizations’ performance, under the guidelines of the Baldrige Excellence
Framework.
Thank you very much for having accepted to take part in this research study,
and for the time and consideration.
Your participation in this study is voluntary and confidential, and you can
change your decision to participate any time, even during our interview, by notifying
me. In case there is a question you are not willing to answer, please just let me know.
For confidentiality reasons, I will refer to you with a pseudonym which is Participant
(number). Only you and me are aware of the person who stands behind the
pseudonym.
This interview is audio-recorded for accuracy purposes. Opportunities for
clarifying statements will be available (via a process called member
checking). Transcriptions of senior leader interviews will be analyzed as part of the
case study, along with any archival data, reports, and documents that the
organization’s leadership deems fit to share. Copies of your interview recording and
transcript are available from me upon request.
Now, if you are ready, we can start the interview.
178
The interview will begin with Question 1 and will follow through to the final
question.
Question 1: How do you collect data for your strategic planning process?
Question 2: How do you analyze data for your strategic planning process?
Question 3: How do you determine if the data gathered and analyzed are relevant?
Question 4: How do you address your strategic challenges and advantages in the data
collection and analysis process?
Question 5: How do you address potential risk elements you detected into the data
gathering and analysis process such as changes in your regulatory and business
environment?
Question 6: How do you ensure accuracy of your understanding of the competitive
environment and the strategic challenges your organization faces?
Question 7: How do you assess and improve the effectiveness of your organization’s
strategic planning process?
Question 8: What additional information can you provide about the strategies you use
to develop a strategic plan based on strategic intelligence?
Our interview is over.
Thank you for having participated in this research.
For any follow-up questions and concerns, please contact me at (telephone
number), or by e-mail at (e-mail address).
This is the end of the interview protocol.